I have a meeting tomorrow morning at the Attorney General's office in Baltimore concerning their upcoming legislation to try and designate all Maryland waters (including the Chesapeake Bay) as a No Discharge Zone (NDZ). As I'm sure you're aware, it is ALREADY ILLEGAL to discharge untreated waste into the Chesapeake. However, treated waste may be discharged in all of the Bay except Herring Bay outside of Annapolis. Treated waste must come from a Type I or Type II USCG approve Marine Sanitation Device (MSD). I know many of you have a Type III device (a holding tank), but many of us have Type I. The output of Type I and Type II devices is much cleaner than what a municipal waste treatment plant discharges. Thus, it makes no sense for a boat on Rock Creek that has a Type I device to have to pump-out untreated waste, have it hauled up the creek to the Pasadena plant, treated less, and then discharged back into Rock Creek. Boat US estimates that there are close to 5,000 Type I devices in use on the Chesapeake. Can you imagine the lines for pump-outs on the weekends if 5,000 more boaters need to pump-out?
I'll update again after the meeting. If the AG's office continues to move forward and introduce the bill, the next step will be to try and kill this horrible legislation in committee.
Stay tuned.
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