Nahant looking for group effort to curb harbor waste disposal

NAHANT – Several area communities including Nahant are looking for a way to ban discharge from boats in their territorial waters.But Nahant Town Administrator Mark Cullinan said banning boat discharge would require the town to provide a means for boats to pump their waste.”The state requires communities to provide pump out facilities for boats,” he said. “For small communities and even larger towns, that is cost prohibitive. “Cullinan said coastal communities should band together to protect their waters.”I think we need to educate boaters – they shouldn’t be discharging untreated sewage into the water,” he said. “But we can’t ask them not to do that and not provide them with a means to dispose of waste.”Cullinan said Nahant, Swampscott, Lynn, Revere and Saugus are looking into ways to work together to ban waste dumping in the waters known collectively as Nahant Bay.”Rather than working individually, it makes more sense to work collectively,” he said. “We could submit a joint application to the state and apply for state money for a pump-out boat that could be shared between the communities. I think it’s feasible but the state really needs to step up. I don’t think any of these communities can afford to pick up the cost, but if we can regionalize and pay for it with state grants this could work.”Mayor Edward Clancy’s Chief of Staff James Marsh said Lynn would be interested in exploring the no discharge zone.”Obviously cost is always a factor,” he said. “But we’re interested in exploring it from an environmental standpoint. If we can get other communities on board and get state grants so it doesn’t cost the city money it’s something we’d be very interested in.”Cullinan said if an application was successful and state money was available, the most likely scenario is the boat would be stationed at Seaport Landing and travel to each of the communities one day a week.”There would be no cost to the communities involved,” he said. “It would help improve the marine environment surrounding our communities.”