The great farce of NDZ


It is already illegal for vessels of any type to discharge raw sewage (unless offshore -ocean- by 3 or more miles) into US waterways. The only parties who get away with dumping raw sewage are municipalities who's waste treatment systems overflow or malfunction (some at an alarmingly regular rate, like every time it rains). What's at stake here are on-board treatment systems. Systems that output treated waste that is many, many times cleaner than what a waste treatment plant discharges. In the words of the Maryland Attorney General's office; on-board treatment systems account for less than .1% of any water quality issues (actually, less than .003% to be exact)! Yet, supporters of NDZ legislation want to criminalize their use.







Thursday, May 19, 2011

Poor reporting by CTPost.com

Perhaps the author of this article should do at least a little bit of research before spouting off falsehoods:

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/A-step-toward-a-cleaner-Sound-1351617.php

A No Discharge Zone designation DOES NOT have any impact on stopping boats from discharging WASTE.  It merely makes it illegal for vessels to discharge TREATED waste. Thus, these vessels with their own EPA approved treatment systems must use municipal pump-out stations, where their waste is then (hopefully) treated and dumped into the same waters anyway!

And let's not forget that the discharge of UNTREATED waste in US waters has been illegal since 1972, not 2007 like the author incorrectly states.
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