BruceK
Moderator Emeritus
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What about fish? They could use diapers. Fitted and changed, by the elected representatives who enact these requirements.
Not exactly Puget Sound, but last Sunday a power outage caused raw sewage to be pumped into Lake Washington for 20 minutes. I wonder how many holding tanks that equals?
NDZS are laughable when the most popular system has repeatedly shown it cleans the water of bacteria better than what it takes in.
Sure there are solids...but in the big scheme of things...gimme a break.
It makes sense to penalize people who spend a bundle to help things while glossing over the real problems.
As you and Hollywood have pointed out, these are minor issues in the scheme of things.
The reality is this is all a big distraction to keep people focused on this minor stuff with no real understanding of the science or what is really going on.
This "debate" is no different than the idea that by removing dams in Washington State, the salmon stocks will come back to some level in the past.
Sure they will.
Just like more pump out stations will make your water cleaner.
Just take an envelope, put money into it and send to some poor guy in Nigeria, as he probably needs it more.
Oh, and don't look at the amount of plastic that is produced, consumed and ends up inthe ocean every single day.
Or the fact that fish stocks continue to decline and vast speicies have been totally fished out and have not recovered.
Yes, just keep patting yourself ont he back every time you flush.
The NDZ in Puget Sound IS a political topic
So I leave Seattle for the San Juans. My poop tank is full because the pumpouts are out of service. How are they going to know that you pulled the handle and dumped overboard?
There is a place in California that requires a person to board your boat once you enter the bay to deposit a special dye tablet into your holding tank. If you dump overboard, they can trace it.....
After you have tied up on a mooring in Avalon Harbor, Catalina, a water cop comes aboard and puts powdered dye into each head. When contacted with water, the die gives off a bright yellow-green color. If one gets caught dumping in the harbor you get banned for one full year.
Turning a bay or sound into a NDZ has absolutely no affect on pollution within said bay or sound until the cities dumping sewage into same bay or sound are brought under control.
Do I dump directly overboard into my marina.. nope.. but in the open areas of P.S.... you bet. I think a lot of us here feel that we should not be made the target of the hour and look at the BIG polluters first. Look at it another way.. In Puget sound the largest polluter is one entity.. Seattle sewer. how easy should it be to regulate the ONE entity vs all the boats?? and what would be the cost to police one sewer plant vs ALL the boats in the PNW?
HOLLYWOOD
I agree that making Puget Sound a NDZ will have no effect, regardless of what they do with the municipal discharges or leaking septic systems.
However, I do disagree with Hollywood. Dumping raw sewage into Puget Sound is unnecessary. Sure it is more convenient than using a pumpout facility, but it is a small inconvenience. Most of the time, there is a working pumpout within an hour of most Puget Sound boaters. With just a little planning, they can be used on the way to another location. Just because Seattle can't get there **** together, doesn't mean we shouldn't take appropriate steps to take care of our own ****.
Hollywood, as the proposed NDZ, you and I are completely on the same page. I am well aware of the current rules as well as the proposed rules. I don't have a treatment system although I have considered one for years. I find it beyond silly that the State is considering an NDZ in the Sound.
I also don't have an issue with you discharging on an ebb tide out in the Strait. Yeah it is technically illegal but it doesn't bother me any. You would have to poop a lot to compete with Victoria.
I do have issues with those boaters who discharge in Puget Sound simply because they don't want to be bothered to use a pumpout station. We know there are plenty of boaters that fall into that category.
I feel fortunate, my current boat has almost 100g black tank and my marina has pump out connections spread throughout the marina and the nearest is two slips away.. I dont even need to move the boat to pump.
But is does seem to be a issue when one goes North.. pump outs appear to be way less common.
HOLLYWOOD
Governments are getting carried away with regulating the public.
I would like to see laws in place requiring proof of liability insurance before a boat could be registered or documented.
So you poop in a bucket and dump it overboard. How do they stop or identify that?
Taking a dump in a bucket or over the side is perfectly legal.....sad but true.
It shows how ridiculous a NDZ in Puget Sound is. Boaters are not a significant source of solid waste in Puget sound. It's a feel good regulation with not scientific proof.
And as Hollywood pointed out, is it already illegal to dump untreated waste into Puget Sound. The proposed NDZ would only affect those with MSD treatment systems such as the Lectrasan or Purasan. That is a vanishingly small number of recreational boats and the treatment systems used on those boats is very effective.
Some of the commercial boats have older systems that aren't nearly as effective, but not so the recreational boats.