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Boot
Key
Harbor An On-Line
Cruising Guide for the Florida Keys & Cuba |
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USE YOUR BROWSER BACK BUTTON TO RETURN TO THE PREVIOUS PAGE MISGUIDED “NO DISCHARGE ZONE” If I understand this correctly - the City of Key West has initiated the implementation of a "no discharge" zone around Key West through the EPA. Sounds good doesn't it. After all, no one wants boaters to pump out all their crap in the water around Key West. And if it catches on maybe the county could just implement it throughout all the Keys. - That's my fear. Do the citizens really know what this means? Its a sham. Boats which have holding tanks or direct discharge are already prohibited by law from dumping raw sewage closer than 3 miles to shore (yes I know some do, but the new law won't change that either). This new "no discharge" law would only apply to boats which are allowed to dump their stuff closer to shore because THEY HAVE ONBOARD SEWAGE TREATMENT SYSTEMS which have already treated the waste prior to discharge. This new no discharge law would mean that these boats will now have to pump their RAW sewage at pumpout stations (if they can even find one available) into the City of Key West's sewage system. Do you also know that Key West's Municipal System treats sewage only to a minimal level? - not nearly as well as these onboard systems do - and then all of this "almost raw" sewage is pumped out a large pipe directly into the water just a few hundred feet off one of the Key West beaches? Now let me get this straight. You want to take the sewage on these special boats (with marine sanitation systems) that have a very high level of treatment, and instead pump it raw into the City's system, where it can be treated to only a minimal level, then pumped back out into the water off your beaches. You lose in the process by ending up with sewage that is much worse than if you'd just allowed them to use their sophisticated onboard systems to begin with. Yes, of course boats that pump their raw sewage out close to shore pollute the water. This is wrong, rude and crude, and they shouldn't do it. But existing laws cover that already - enforce them -and there are ways. The new law won't do anything extra about these people, but instead will cause INCREASED pollution of your near shore water. To me this is a lot of wheel spinning - someone "doing something" just because "something needs to be done". On a superficial basis it looks great, and makes the backers look good in the process - until you really know what it all means. It also looks like a good diversion to take the heat off the real problem - the fact that the city's sanitation system itself is sub par and the primary source of millions of gallons of pollutants pumped just off the beach. You didn't see Marathon's beaches shut down this summer did you? - Even with all the boats in Boot Key Harbor. The answer to the small part of the "boating end" of this problem lies in ENCOURAGING these special onboard systems, then provide more pumpouts plus "honey wagons & boats" for all those boats with regular holding tanks. I would encourage this action to be revisited. An EPA no discharge makes some sense if you have industry dumping their outflows into local water. Where are the steel mills and chemical plants in the Keys? Gregory Absten |
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Boot Key Harbor website created and maintained by Capt. Gregory
T. Absten, Marathon. - A Boater's Guide to the Florida Keys & Cuba |