Baltimore still can't get their $hit together.

More ongoing municipal waste water treatment issues with discharge into Baltimore County's Back Creek (I think that is considered Baltimore County, but it is Baltimore City's waste and responsibility, regardless).

 From WTOP New and Maryland Matters

A nicely written human interest story from Maryland Matters about this issue:

Pollution crisis at the water plant

“There needs to be signage warning the public that the area is known to have unsafe levels of bacteria and to avoid contact with the water, particularly during the 48 hours after a rain.”"

 From WTOP:

A massive new sewer tunnel in Alexandria hopes to clean up the Potomac

This is, of course, a very good thing the city of Alexandria is doing.  It is also a well-written article.  But, what caught my eye the most are the facts and figures included:

“about 140 million gallons of combined sewer overflows occur each year in Alexandria...That sewage is loaded with bacteria, nitrogen and phosphorus, which impacts the water quality of the Potomac River in the Chesapeake Bay.

"The overall cost of the project is a whopping $615 million."

"[The tunnel] will bring that mixture to the wastewater treatment plant where it will be treated and then discharged into the Potomac."

140 million gallons per year!  Think about how much that is times all the other cities (like DC!) on or around the Potomac and how much all the marine toilets in the area could possibly put out.  There is no comparison.  So why are the "environmental" groups so hung up on outlawing marine treatment systems?  Aren't the goals actually the same; to treat and release sewage to protect the environment?  How is one "treat and release" better than another?  The anti-boaters will say that marine systems do not treat waste as well as municipal plants. This is a lie as the facts prove when figures are compared.  The unit I use requires the same chemical tablet that is sold by the truckload to municipal plants (I went shopping for it but don't want to order by the pallet).  The answer is both control (they LOVE telling other people what to do) and expense.  They are so hung up on control they want your poop!  Think about it; this is just one city that is taking action at a cost of $615,000,000.  What about Baltimore?  What about Annapolis?  What about Cambridge?  What are they discharging and how?  What will it cost to fix those aging, overwhelmed systems?

Maryland's Back Creek is now a Black Creek (or is that "Brown Creek").

More trouble in the paradise of poop, er, Maryland.  Yet another government source of human waste flowing into the Chesapeake Bay.

Baltimore Sun Article 

Marathon, FL USA

Yet another failure of "No Discharge Zone" legislation.  In the Florida Keys it is illegal for a boat to treat their waste and discharge via a USCG approved Marine Sanitation System (Type I or Type II).  So what is one forced to do; pump it out at a marina where it goes to a government facility and then they can discharge it raw into the surrounding waters.  I guess poop from government doesn't stink?

https://lawstreetmedia.com/news/agriculture/environmental-group-sues-city-of-marathon-fla-for-dumping-sewage-into-the-florida-keys/

 17 Million Gallons of Sewage into Pacific Ocean from Los Angeles.

As reported by the LA Times.

Just a few examples of recent municipal sewage spills (where's the outrage?):

Stoney Creek (Chesapeake Bay, MD).

Perdido Bay (Florida, Alabama).

Pensacola, FL ("millions of gallons").

Confused in Vero Beach

 While the article is dated Nov. 4, 2019 the content is a recurring theme amongst those that want to blame boaters for municipal waste treatment issues and spills.

"Environmental group wants to stop boats dumping waste in Vero Beach, Indian River Lagoon" - TCTimes

Again, it is already illegal for boats/ships/vessels to discharge raw, untreated waste in the waters around Vero Beach, FL.  What good will it do to outlaw the use of currently legal waste treatment systems?  I suggest The Clean Water Coalition of Indian River County  may want to spend their time and resources on working with the city of Vero Beach to contain land-based sewage spills:

Vero Beach sewer line breaks twice in 2 months, blamed on cold weather (3,000 gallons).

3 weeks after 3 million-gallon sewage spill, residents 'seeing stuff floating on top of the water' in Bethel Creek (3.1 MILLION gallons - that would take a LOT of boats!).

This is a very good article explaining the sewer and waste water issues in Florida. 

Think about it:  Treat it on a boat or put it into a failing municipal system via pump-out?  What's next; we treat waste on boats and then hand it over at a pump out so it is nice and sterile going into a failing municipal system?