Law seeks to halt boat sewage in Greater Lynn communities

LYNN – Lynn, Nahant, Revere, Saugus and Swampscott could soon join the list of communities statewide where boats are prohibited from discharging sewage into the water.The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is mulling a proposal from Massachusetts that would collectively designate the coastal zones spanned by those five communities as an official No Discharge Area. If approved, discharges of both treated and non-treated boat sewage would be prohibited within the boundaries.Communities on Cape Cod, Nantucket, and other coastal areas already have applied through the state and obtained designation as No Discharge Areas. The Salem Sound Coastwatch communities of Salem, Marblehead, Danvers, Beverly and Manchester-by-the-Sea are awaiting similar designation.The petition from Lynn and the abutting communities has been published in the Federal Register in Washington and, as a result, the EPA will accept public comments for 30 days, ending Feb. 4.”By taking this important step toward improving coastal water quality, these communities are working to protect our environment as well as their economic well-being,” said Robert Varney, EPA administrator for New England.The EPA typically does not endorse such petitions unless the communities involved can show there are enough pump-out stations available to service the area’s boat traffic. There are an estimated 1,222 boats in the Greater Lynn area, of which 660 are large enough to have a toilet on board.Within the proposed area there are only two pump-out facilities, which are connected to municipal sewage systems.According to the EPA, the proposed no discharge area for Greater Lynn contains the ecologically-important Rumney Marsh 2,274 acres of salt marsh designated by the state as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern.Most boats 20 feet or longer are equipped with a head or toilet fitted with a Y-valve that can divert waste into an onboard holding tank or directly into the sea if far from shore. Discharging sewage directly into waters close to shore, particularly in marinas or harbors, can produce fetid conditions as well as pollute recreational beaches.Although many conscientious boaters would voluntarily contain their waste, once their holding tanks are full they are forced to release it overboard if no pump-out station is available. That situation is changing along much of the coast as additional pump-out stations are established, capable of vacuuming holding tank waste for a small fee.Other areas in New England where bans on boat sewage have been implemented include all state marine waters in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. In Massachusetts, the following places are No Discharge Areas: Harwich, Waquoit Bay, Nantucket Harbor, Wellfleet, Barnstable, and Buzzards Bay (including Wareham and Westport), Plymouth/ Duxbury/ Kingston area, Marshfield/ Scituate/ Cohasset, Salem Sound, Boston Harbor, and Cape Cod Bay.In Maine, Casco Bay is a No Discharge Area, as is Lake Champlain, which divides Vermont and New York, and Lake Memphremagog in Vermont and Quebec.For more information on No Discharge Areas in New England, go online to http://www.epa.gov/ne/eco/nodiscrg/index.html.