|
|
Boot
Key
Harbor An On-Line
Cruising Guide for the Florida Keys & Cuba |
|
|
USE YOUR BROWSER BACK BUTTON TO RETURN TO THE PREVIOUS PAGE Holding Tanks and Pumpout Stations, published in BOAT US and SOUNDINGS
Holding tanks and pumpout stations, the Federal Government's answer to marine
sewerage is a failed technology. In typical "one size fits all"
mentality,
landlubbers have legislated for mariners. With little or no working knowledge
of either the boating environment or the vast differences in that boating
environment based upon geography and latitude, government agencies have not
only ordained a particular system but financed it with our taxpayer dollars.
First, let me address why the system is a failure.
The only place the holding tank system is actually viable is in the northern
fresh water boating regions where there are no overboard discharges of any
kind allowed, therefore, no extra plumbing, thru-hull fittings and
"Y"
valves. In these regions there are only a handful of boats with installed
heads anyway. Despite the fact that the great lakes states have the most
boats registered, they have the fewest with installed heads. In addition, the
boating season is dramatically short, usually considered from Memorial Day to
Labor Day, with a about a ten weekend season. Most important, is that when
water is pumped or poured into a marine toilet in those environs it is cold
fresh water. There are statistically no full-time liveaboards and the actual
number of flushes per installed toilet is the lowest in the nation based upon
simple seasonal usage statistics.
Where are the toilets?
My guess, based upon my thirty years experience in the marine business is
that there are more installed heads in the state of Florida alone than in the
entire Great Lakes and fresh water sailing regions of the nation. Not only
that, the Florida boats operate three hundred sixty five days per year. It is
safe to extrapolate that there are more liveaboards in Florida, Texas and the
adjoining states than there are boats with installed heads in all of the
fresh water areas, Great Lakes and the New England area combined. Add to that
fact that heads in the South are mostly pumped with warm seawater as opposed
to cool fresh water. Anybody that cannot see the enormity of the difference
and anybody with even the slightest knowledge of what happens to human waste
once it leaves the body can understand we are dealing with variables so
dramatic that no "one size fits all" solution could possibly work.
The results:
The result of all this foolishness is that we have compliance but no
pollution solution. Manufacturers routinely install tanks. Users routinely
eschew them. Government money is used for pump-outs to be "in
compliance" but
most are hardly or never used for a myriad of reasons. First, is reluctance
on the part of the owner of many of these facilities to allow the general
public and specifically the liveaboards to use the facilities. This is based
upon sound economic principles. A pump-out at a dock is an annoyance, an
embarrassment, a user of resources such as rinse water, a user of manpower
such as the dock attendant and can never be an economic benefit because of
the low federally mandated fees. Many marina employees refuse to operate them
thus compounding an already difficult employee retention problem. (Would you
take a job handling some else's sewerage?)
The boaters:
From the point of view the boaters, holding tanks in the major boating areas
such as Florida, inevitably stink and stink up the entire boat no matter how
good the materials or how well installed. Stories of exploding holding tanks,
hoses coming off, frantic calls for pump-out locations on weekends, bilges
full of sewerage are so rife within the boating community that it is little
wonder anybody uses the holding tanks at all. Methods for avoiding the use of
the tanks are numerous and the subject of another article. Suffice it to say
that we have "compliance:" but not "solution."
Reality check:
No matter when or where, it is a serious inconvenience to be pumped out. Who
wants to spend the end of a precious weekend jockeying around a crowded
marina dock waiting for pump-out? If you are a sailboat, you may buy fuel as
little as once per year or possibly never if you bring it in jerry jugs, thus
never needing to go to a marina dock at all. This problem is exacerbated by
the old saying when a sailboat pulls up to certain marina docks: "You are
going to by five gallons of diesel, drop off ten bags of garbage and take
thirty gallons of water." What happens when that same unwelcome boat
wants a
pump-out as well? Based on this, many marinas, some of which have taken
federal pump-out money, refuse to have sailboats at their docks at all. If
you do a head count (no pun intended) of the actual number of pump-out
facilities available as opposed to the number that exist, you would be
shocked.
Solutions:
That brings me to potential solutions in which we have both compliance and
solution. If I can go into any hardware store and purchase a point five (.5)
micron filter for my home drinking water system, a filter so good it filters
out bacteria and viruses, why can't I buy a system like that for my waste
water on my boat; one that would discharge or reuse drinkable water? If I can
buy an incinerating toilet that runs on electric and turns human waste into a
few drops of dust, why can't I by an incinerating system I can install to the
exhaust manifold of my engine and utilize that waste heat to burn up the
sewerage? If I can go into a hardware store and by quick-lime or other waste
eating chemicals used in aircraft and outdoor toilet facilities for
generations and bag the remains to take ashore when I leave my boat? Why not?
Answers:
The answer to the above queries are simple and direct. You can! That is
right, in all cases except the filtered one, you comply with USCG, 33CFR
regulations for type III no-discharge MSD devices. Astonished? Of course.
This is not common knowledge because there is no government money in it, there
is little potential advertising money, because of the existing technologies
are not sought out by the marine industry in a vicious cycle. There are no
research government grants, there are no research studies because the
landlubbers believe they have solved the problem with their holding tanks
Actions:
There are at least two companies providing approved type III devices that
many boaters in the south actually use. Incinolet, (800-527-5551)
incinerating toilets and SunMar (905-332-1314) composting toilets. Both of
these companies specialize in toilets for locations in which there is either
no flush water available or no viable sewer system. Sounds like a boat to me!
They do not aggressively market their products to the marine industry because
of the myriad problems, small market base and lack of government enthusiasm.
This is where we all must act.
The government must be made aware that new and improved technology is
desperately needed, that their holding tank system is a dismal failure and
that the boating community is ready, willing and able to support technology
that will give us compliance and pollution solution. The caveats are the
hardware must be user friendly. The mechanisms must eliminate the three
deadly failures of holding tanks, 1. Turning our boats into a dangerous
stinking septic tank carrier. 2. Relieving us of the limited holding tank
capacity problem and 3. Removing the need for special handling at authorized
(and taxpayer funded) facilities.
The government is a necessary but often ignorant intrusion in our nautical
lives. We, the boaters, really do want a solution to our own pollution. We
need to direct these enthusiastic but boating reality ignorant government
types to learn first hand what actually happens in the real world. Maybe a
year as a full time liveaboard in a southern state ought to be a prerequisite
for anyone to hold a job legislating for boaters?
CHARLES E. KANTER
|
|
Boot Key Harbor website created and maintained by Capt. Gregory
T. Absten, Marathon. - A Boater's Guide to the Florida Keys & Cuba |