Discharging dirty dishwater

[firehoser75]

Pretty hard to avoid grey water discharge if you are one of the vast majority of boats that does not have any provision for, nor space to add, a grey water tank. I can see it for a few hours (trying to collect grey water), but that would be about all a boater in that type of boat could do.
Again, on the scale of pollution, a careful boater's grey water would not really amount to much in the ocean, and should be very low on the list of pollutants to reduce or remove if a regulator really wanted to be effective. First reduce or remove the big polluters, then we can talk about "picking the fly sh_t out of the pepper." I am not looking to try to find a solution to pleasure boater grey water when for most of us it would be next to impossible to solve in a practical manner, when many industries, cities, etc. still pollute in large amounts to say nothing of the runoff from the land including storm drains and farms.

Yes, I use only the most environmentally sensitive soaps (for dishes, showers, and hand washing), wash my boat 90% of the time with only water and a brush, etc. to reduce my impact as much as possible.
To me, it is just common sense. JMHO.
With the caveats I mentioned earlier, I agree Anson.

 

[Comodave]

My next project is determining why only one of four florescent fixtures in the salon work.

Regards to all.

Jolly Mon[/QUOTE]

The reason they don’t work is because they aren’t LED...

 

[High Wire]

In NJ, storm drains DO NOT connect to the sewerage processing plant. Storm drains went straight to the local creek. As kids we crawled through them for fun. No poo there. The overflows were the result of illegal basement sump pump connections to the homes sewerage outlet pipe. Our house had one before they were banned. After several days of rain, the basement sump pumps were working overtime putting that water into the sewer system.

 

[Portage_Bay]

Keeping in mind the OP asked about dumping grill cleaning waste in a marina. No matter which side of the greenie vs boater aisle you stand on why dump something that will be visually obvious, messy and potentially unpleasant in the marina? An alternative to harsh chemicals for grill cleaning is vinegar. Let it soak till the crud is softened then brush and pressure wash. If done at home then the waste is much easier to deal with.

Hi all:

Looking for some advise from those more experienced than this new guy (me)....
I finished washing/scrubbing/scraping, the Magma kettle grill using a large cooler as my "sink/wash bucket. Now the grill is clean , but I have a cooler of dirty, soapy water and not sure what to do with it. Can it be dumped in the marina or do I have to treat as oil and take to a haz mat waste site?

Appreciate any insights.

Thanks,
Jolly Mon crew of 1

 

[Sabre602]

...No matter which side of the greenie vs boater aisle you stand on....

Not to flog a dead horse, but this assumes that a rather confrontational position exists and that boaters are not concerned about the environment. I don't believe that's the case. Like any other set of folks, there will always be boaters at either end of the bell-shaped curve, but life should be about CURVES, not black-and-white divisions.

 

[Portage_Bay]

My post does not assume any such thing. My point, quite simply put, is don't discharge messy stuff into a marina as some on this thread have done or suggested. No matter your personal position it doesn't look good.

Not to flog a dead horse, but this assumes that a rather confrontational position exists and that boaters are not concerned about the environment. I don't believe that's the case. Like any other set of folks, there will always be boaters at either end of the bell-shaped curve, but life should be about CURVES, not black-and-white divisions.

 

[denverd0n]

Parts of the world no longer allow ANY grey water to go overboard. Not even shower or sink water.

What parts? I have never heard of this before, though, admittedly, my boating is limited to Florida, the Gulf Coast, the Bahamas, and the Caribbean.

 

[psneeld]

Technically, the US is a no deck runoff or grey water...thankfully a few congressman boaters have kept rec boats on exception...but it may not last forever.

 

[Hippocampus]

Go cruising in the Aegean Sea or islands throughout eastern Med.

 

[Hippocampus]

We love Dawn. There’s something about it with a drop of it and a bit of vinegar makes it the best to clean interior bright woodwork. It’s also the best lubricant when messing with plastic parts. Either taking them apart or putting them together. Still it’s a real deal detergent. Therefore it’s reserved for those non traditional uses. Regular old soap is biodegradable and is our go to. Baking soda paste for scrubbing, occasionally barkeepers friend or the 3M product. Toothpaste for things we don’t want scratched. Try to stay out of Waste Marine or any chandlery as too expensive for what you get. One exception is bilge cleaner. Dump it in ,add a bit of fresh, go out on a bumpy day. Turn bilge pumps back on while we’re still outside the 3m limit.Anybody know of a good cheap and environmentally friendly bilge cleaner?

 

[firehoser75]

Scott,
Glad the Congressmen are still there and thinking instead of trying to appear to act. For a pleasureboat, what would have happened to any dirt that has accumulated on deck if the boat had not been there to catch it in the first place (prior to the runoff)?
Again, I do care greatly about our environment, and I think we as boaters should do everything that is reasonable to protect it. The key word is "reasonable" and within that definition must be consideration to cost vs benefit, overall practicality, and overall effectiveness in actually solving the problem. JMO.
I don't know how anyone could think it reasonable to focus on saving our oceans from dirt that would have fallen in anyway if there had been no boat there, and to let the larger sources of pollution go mostly unchecked?
Most boaters I know personally, do everything they can to reduce their personal environmental impact from boating (short of stopping boating) and would not dream of dumping oily products or garbage, or? in the ocean. Grey water (with only the safest soaps available) and runoff water, overboard, sure. Minimal impact.

 

[SteveK]

Cleaning the grill, what a concept. All that burned on flavor gone down the drain. The occasional flare up to singe the meat of choice. Leave the seasoned grill alone and go change the oils.

 

[menzies]

So what did you do?

 

[Fugly]

If possible, I walk the dock to shore with the bucket, dump it onto parking lot gravel (first choice) or grass far from the shore. I'm talkin' about 'boat wash' residue. It's the same area that boats get pressure washed in the spring and summer.

A marina owner once told me that gravel lots are better for envt. than ashphalt (dissipate runoff). Who knows. Made sense to me.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

Cleaning the grill, what a concept. All that burned on flavor gone down the drain. The occasional flare up to singe the meat of choice. Leave the seasoned grill alone and go change the oils.

Oh man you sir have no clue on the correct BBQ techniques. Lol

 

[OldDan1943]

I'll worry about my gray water when cities are fined for 'spills' of non-treated water.
The cities should be taxed at the same as a boater who discharges non-treated water.
The city of Atlanta found it easier and less expensive to pay the fine than to correct the problem on non-treated water from the sewage plant.
It has been suggested, the fastest way to correct the problem of non-treated water is to put the city's domestic water inlet down stream of the treated water outlet. Call it "motivational".

 

[ssobol]

Some places are pretty emphatic about no discharge. Lake George, NY is a good example.

 

[Circumnavigator]

The two yards with which I'm most familiar have separate drain systems for the water that comes from pressure washing bottoms. It wouldn't surprise me if that's the case throughout the US. So, if your marina hauls boats, you could put nasty grey water in the separate system.

 

[dennismenace111]

Hate to disagree but in many cities, especially older cities, the storm drains go to the sewer plant. That is why in heavy rain storms sewer plants become overwhelmed and pump raw sewage into streams and rivers. Baltimore and Chicago are famous for it. Plenty of other locations as well. Baltimore dumps millions of gallons in a big storm probably more sewage than if every boat on the upper Chesapeake pumped their black water tanks overboard all year long. A couple of years back the City of Burlington Vermont dumped 4 millions gallons of raw sewage into Lake Champlain because a valve was mistakenly opened.So, in many places dumping into the storm sewer gets it to the sewer plant. Unfortunately, it is impossible to know if that is the case in every place one might dump.

I know for a fact that almost all storm drains in South Florida and most likely all of coastal Florida, drain to salt water carrying fertilizers and animal waste into our coastal waters. As do the tens of thousands of septic tanks that overflow into ground water and eventually to salt water.

Recent algae blooms and fish kills in Biscayne Bay are an example of this situation.

 

[jclays]

I use the laundry room sink and drain it there or around the trees in the marina.

 

[ProMaritime]

I just tie a line on mine and throw it over the side for the night. The crabs and little fish do the dirty work.

 

[catalinajack]

And yet boaters are evil if they pump waste overboard. What boaters might add if they did would be wholly inconsequential. Still, we comply because it is the law and the "eeuuw" factor.

I know for a fact that almost all storm drains in South Florida and most likely all of coastal Florida, drain to salt water carrying fertilizers and animal waste into our coastal waters. As do the tens of thousands of septic tanks that overflow into ground water and eventually to salt water.

Recent algae blooms and fish kills in Biscayne Bay are an example of this situation.

 

[Alaskan Sea-Duction]

As do the tens of thousands of septic tanks that overflow into ground water and eventually to salt water.

Sounds like Portland OR, Seattle and Tacoma!!

 

[micheln]

Depressing tread, i just cant comprehend someone walking a bucket of dishwater up the dock to dump in some toilet like its toxic waste. Its like washing is the new smoking, just weird.

 

[AMG]

Put your cups of tea down before you read this, In the UK apart from inland waterways there is no legal requirement to have a black water holding tank, you can just flush it straight out. many boats only have sea toilets, I'm sure newer boats have tanks. And I have never seen lumps of poo floating around, or nasty smells in the marina (Our climate is cooler) But this will really freak you out, if we go to France we need a tank.

 

[Captankirk]

After working in the construction industry for 50 years, I can tell you that ALL storm water sewer lines go to a body of water that eventually flows to the ocean, i.e., rivers or streams that are unchecked all the way to the ocean. They may go through a central collection point but eventually go to the river that gets it to the ocean. Regardless of the area you are in. Canada is no exception.
Sanitary sewers go to a treatment plant to treat the fecal matter that it contains.

there are no exceptions to this rule. However, there is a rule (everywhere) about dumping petroleum products in either sewer system. Strict No No. Petroleum products should only go to a processing facility.

So the general rule for cleaning liquids is they do not contain fecal matter or petroleum so they can go into the storm sewer. Some marinas may have rules about dumping in the marina, but that's to keep the marina water clean. It's an aesthetic thing, that's all.

Check with the marina you are in, but more than likely they'll tell you grey water can just go overboard.

 

[Porgy]

That is just flat out wrong. As previously noted, parts of some older municipalities at least in the US have combined stormwater and sanitary systems where stormwater goes through the treatment plant. I worked for two such municipalities and know first hand and have worked with other cities that have to deal with the dilemma.

 

[Hippocampus]

E.coli does poorly in salt water. Like England no where in the Caribbean are holding tanks required. Some places like roadtown stink but that because land sewage and other waste are dumped into that harbor. In spite of the absence of tides the other harbors are clean and swimmable. Few aren’t suitable for water making. If you look overboard as macerated poop is exhausted it disappears in 4-6’. Still, while there we use our holding tanks when in a marina. But that’s well less than 5% of the time.

 

[Captankirk]

Porgy,

read my post again. " They may go through a central collection point", but the storm water is not treated. primary reason: money. it costs a lot of money to treat the sanitary water. no community is going to spend that money to treat street runoff.

Let me clarify, every project I've managed for the last 40 years or so had two separate sewer systems constructed: Sanitary and Stormwater. they each go to there own system. In Florida, we dig a lake and send the stormwater there. In Ohio, it goes to an already existing stormwater system. In Cincinnati, it does go to the same place as the sanitary, but the storm water goes through a simple filtration system to weed out any petroleum residue. Sanitary goes through an extensive treatment. Both end up getting dumped in the Ohio river. Most communities' collection plants are similar.

 

[rslifkin]

Modern systems keep them separate, but older ones often don't. Locally here, many of the suburbs have separate storm drains, but the city and some older areas of the suburbs are combined. Storm drains go through the sewage treatment plant.

Years ago, they built a massive network of tunnels in Rochester to act as storage in heavy rains to avoid overflows of untreated sewage. Water builds up in the tunnels, then gets processed through the treatment plant, allowing a buffer for when input exceeds processing capacity.