Maryland Proposed 'No Discharge' Zone

[ronbo1]

The state of Maryland has proposed a NDZ for the Chesapeake Bay.

While we all want to see clean waters, all this law will do is prevent boats equipped with USCG approved MSDs Type I, such as Electro Scans, from operating in the Bay. Important point: the dumping of raw sewage from holding tanks has been illegal for 30 years.

This law may give the public the feeling politicians are doing something worthwhile for the environment but it accomplishes little if anything. Instead of discouraging marine sanitation devices politicians should encourage the private sector to make them better. Already MSDs discharge fewer pathogens than modern sewage plants. And when it rains heavily sewage plants often discharge raw, untreated sewage.

Tom Neale wrote a good article on this topic:
Raritan Engineering | 2003 Boat Shows

Ronbo

[Chief Engineer]

Go to Baltimore Harbor anytime after a thunderstorm and the crap that overflows the treatment plan on the Gwynns Falls comes right down the Jones Falls and into the Harbor......The Maryland Dept of the Environment calls them algae blooms

[clsailor]

Is there an web site or government address that we can send our comments to on this question.

[FrankZ]

There is some information here.

[S/V Illusion]

Just what we need - another rant about how the government can't figure out anything...
NDZs are not the problem; they are a partial solution. Blaming politicians or "the government" for raw sewage discharges isn't a solution or even marginally accurate; to be precise, you are the problem.

Come back to reality folks. Pay the huge tax burden associated with building larger sewage treatment plants capable of handling combined sewer overflows. Hold your political representatives accountable for NOT raising taxes sufficient to pay for this.

If you aren't willing to pay and don't want to vote for a politician who wants to raise your taxes, please stop complaining here where it does absolutely no good.

[ggray]

Originally Posted by ronbo1

The state of Maryland has proposed a NDZ for the Chesapeake Bay.

Already MSDs discharge fewer pathogens than modern sewage plants. And when it rains heavily sewage plants often discharge raw, untreated sewage.



Ronbo

That should be the point of attack.

What's good for the goose is good for the gander. Make it clear--Boat/US perhaps--that if this law is passed, if sewage plants start to discharge raw sewage, an injunction will be filed to cut off the water supply so no more flushing of toilets.

Naah, wouldn't work. Shame that might makes right.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by ggray

That should be the point of attack.

Has it occurred to anyone that the state of Maryland might truly be interested in what's best for the Chesapeake in this case? Why attack a state for wanting to preserve its aquatic environment?

It cost me a couple hundred bucks to become fully NDZ compliant. If that's the price of being able to swim in the waters where I anchor, and to be able to eat what I catch, I'll pay it gladly.

Electro-sans were a bad idea from the get-go. If you're still using one of those units in a confined body of water like the Chesapeake, it's time to wake up and smell the--ahem--roses.

[Chief Engineer]

Maryland consistently "pledges" to do something.

Just like people pledge money for Jerry's Kids etc.....when it comes time to paying....Maryland pulls the funds.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation doesn't do diddly except accept contributions and publish nice glossy press releases.

They even said, after our record snow storm here, that dumping the contaminated road snow into the Harbor won't hurt anything.....Road Salt, Oils, Dirt and Garbage...

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by S/V Illusion

Just what we need - another rant about how the government can't figure out anything...
NDZs are not the problem; they are a partial solution. Blaming politicians or "the government" for raw sewage discharges isn't a solution or even marginally accurate; to be precise, you are the problem.

Come back to reality folks. Pay the huge tax burden associated with building larger sewage treatment plants capable of handling combined sewer overflows. Hold your political representatives accountable for NOT raising taxes sufficient to pay for this.

If you aren't willing to pay and don't want to vote for a politician who wants to raise your taxes, please stop complaining here where it does absolutely no good.

INDEED !!!

[gettinthere]

The reality here is that the state will not pay the big bucks to fix the major problems...large municipal sewage dischages. So instead, they pretend to be doing something by attacking boaters who contribute such a minor amount of polution that is meaningless.
But they will do 2 things. 1, they will pretend to be doing SOMETHING and 2, they will cost us more money. In this economy that is not something you want to do. I will have a negative effect on boating with no appreciable effect on polution.

[sneuman]

The biggest problem - by far - in the Chesapeake is runoff from lawns and farms causing an abundance of "nutrients" in the water. Yes, we ought to do our part to minimize sewage discharge but it does sometimes feel like boaters are the "soft target" in this equation. After all, our contribution to the problem is very minimal.

[ronbo1]

Anyone following the pollution issue in the Chesapeake over the last 20 years knows it's not improved much, if at all, and in some areas gotten worse. Last year it was revealed that reports of improvement were falsified. There are far too many issues to discuss here, including politics, commercial fishing and farm interests, obsolete sanitation plants, atmospheric pollution from mid-western states, overfishing, etc, etc. but passing nonsensical "feel good" regulations won't solve it.

Dumping raw sewage in the Bay has already been illegal for 30 years; the only thing NDZs achieve is to make it illegal to operate a USCG approved MSD type I sanitation device.

Once you pass this law how do you enforce it? Stop every boat looking for an operational MSD Type I on the very few boats that have them with overworked USCG and DNR officers?

Ronbo

BoatersEd - currently in discussion on this forum
BoaterEd

Chesapeake Yacht Clubs Assoc
http://www.cbyca.org/issues_positions.htm

http://www.ndztruth.com

MD Legislators:
http://mlis.state.md.us/mgaweb/mail32.aspx
Send an eMail Message to the Members of the Maryland Senate Education, Health & Environmental Affairs Committee:

A 'white paper' prepared by Chuck Husick:
http://www.raritaneng.com/pdf_files/...20Response.pdf

An article written by Tom Neale:
Raritan Engineering | 2003 Boat Shows

[BubbleHeadMd]

Pfft..yeah, good luck enforcing any of this. My toilet thru-hulls are 'glassed over, so what? What's to stop me from just pouring the contents of my RV toilet tank over the side during the night? Nothing but my integrity.

I'm not against legislating restrictions on discharge from boats, but like the others say- We're the softest target in this fight and the smallest contributor to the problem. You have to fix the other contributors too.

[David M]

It sounds like a case of the big guys going after the small guys when the big guys are doing the same exact thing but on a massive scale by comparison.

We have the same problem here in the SF Bay. The large sanitation districts are overwhelmed each and every time we have a large storm event. They end up having to dump partially treated raw sewage in the Bay. Our local government agencies though seem to be more concerned by yachts than by their own sanitation districts.

Its obvious why they do this. Because creating a facade of going after "rich" yacht owners makes the politicians look like they care for the environment. It keeps a certain side of the political spectrum happy which helps them get re-elected. They are not about to admit that the sanitation districts that they have power over are the worst offenders by a magnitude into the millions. Nor do the newspapers or television media here care to report this fact.

[witzgall]

I just read that article cited above by Tom Neale. It was a very good article, and I suggest it to anyone that wants to better understand this issue for boaters.

Chris