Boaters are allowed to discharge their toilet waste into the water if it's been treated to remove bacteria.
But even treated toilet waste is chock full of nutrients such as nitrogen that foul the bay, cause algae blooms, and suck oxygen from the water.
Now the state might do something about it, inspired by a visit that state Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler took to the West and Rhode rivers last summer.
Gansler convinced lawmakers to sponsor a...
| This story has expired! You can purchase the full text in our news archives. |
If you encounter other problems, please email ewiffin@capitalgazette.com and include your name, username, and any errors or messages that are displayed. The more information you can provide, the better able we will be to assist you.
In order to post or vote on a comment, you must be signed in with a hometownannapolis account.
Take a look at a summary of Commenting Guidelines.
Report Abuse or Vote In order to allow the user community the ability to collectively rank the value of comments posted on the Capital Gazette websites we have implemented a thumbs-up/down system. All logged-in users may participate by voting up/down each comment. If others vote on your comment, your individual score will go up/down depending on the votes. Initially, everyone starts with a score of zero, and must earn credits to have significant voting weight. Individuals with higher scores will have more voting weight. 0
0
Mark may be right. - 2010-03-15 18:08:26
This would end my ability to live aboard my home. I have a treatment system, and no ability to pump out in winter. I use my boat for #1 & the marina's head for #2. I care for the Bay & understand if this is a real issue. But if this has little to no effect..then please let's not do it just to do it. 1% of all nutrient load does not sound like much of a difference. I'd like to see the facts first. This would have a major effect on boaters, watermen, & liveaboards and we are an integral part of our community like anyone else. I'd recommend targeting the big pollution sources like new development runoff first.
unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?
M Mund - , - Karma: Neutral
Report Abuse or Vote In order to allow the user community the ability to collectively rank the value of comments posted on the Capital Gazette websites we have implemented a thumbs-up/down system. All logged-in users may participate by voting up/down each comment. If others vote on your comment, your individual score will go up/down depending on the votes. Initially, everyone starts with a score of zero, and must earn credits to have significant voting weight. Individuals with higher scores will have more voting weight. 0
0
more regulation - 2010-03-15 16:26:34
This is just a silly way the AG will claim he is helping the environment. There is more pollution from one rain storm washing trash and garbage from the streets of Annapolis and Baltimore into the bay then in an entire year coming from the few recreational or commercial boaters that may or may not have a proper holding tank or treatment option on board.
Besides, who's going to enforce this when there is already a shortage of marine police to cover the entire bay.
Lets be real here and suggest solutions that work, such as seeing to it that our own government stops polluting first.
What a joke.
unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?
Frederick Mertes - Annapolis, MD - Karma: Neutral
Report Abuse or Vote In order to allow the user community the ability to collectively rank the value of comments posted on the Capital Gazette websites we have implemented a thumbs-up/down system. All logged-in users may participate by voting up/down each comment. If others vote on your comment, your individual score will go up/down depending on the votes. Initially, everyone starts with a score of zero, and must earn credits to have significant voting weight. Individuals with higher scores will have more voting weight. 0
0
Not going to help - 2010-03-13 20:13:49
As this article points out, the state has no data to support the claim that this bill will help anything.
The only data _I_ can find is from the MTAM press release, where they estimate that Type I and II MSDs are responsible for 3 thousandths of a percent of the nutrient load on the bay. Not only will you not notice such a small change, you won't even be able to measure it.
This is a far cry from 1%, but in other publications, that 1% is described as _all_ nutrient load from boats, including cleaning products and already-illegal sewage discharges. It would be nice to know where Gansler got this number and how reliable it is.
This is is exactly the kind of thing that Republicans like to use to beat up on Democrats: another regulation that costs people money, but doesn't help anything. In this case, I have to agree with them.
unhide Comment hidden due to low ranking. Why is this comment hidden?
Mark Sienkiewicz - , - Karma: Neutral
If you encounter other problems, please email ewiffin@capitalgazette.com and include your name, username, and any errors or messages that are displayed. The more information you can provide, the better able we will be to assist you.