Mandatory Dye Tablets for Your Black tank??

I think she needs to explain this scientifically or maybe a high school diploma is necessary before speaking to the press...

"Thornton. After staging her business at the harbor for the past four years, she said she hardly sees anyone at the public pump out stations.
“For one 30 gallon tank of concentrated human waste dumped into that harbor, it’s like 10,000 people flush their toilet at home and it went into the water,” she said. "

"My solution is a mandatory pump out,” Thornton said. “Every boat in the harbor should be pumped out once a month.”

She is making an inaccurate assumption that every head, in every boat is used once a month. Unless she is only talking liveaboards, then her idea has merit.

Greetings,
I concentrate when "delivering" my waste but I don't think the waste itself is participating.

Oceanside Harbor opens directly into the ocean. A three mile trip westward from the harbor puts the boat outside the 'no discharge' zone where holding tanks can be pumped legally.

A map of the harbor shows many restrooms available to the slips.

This looks like an attempt by a private business to generate income.

PS-that statement does not even need a HS diploma to refute. My low flo toilets at home use virtually the same water per flush as the heads on my boat. On the boat, the flush goes to a 100 gal holding tank. The tank is pretty much sealed so no, or very little, evaporation takes place. So how is the waste on the boat concentrated? My heads use about 1.6L per flush. In a 30 gallon tank, that would be about 71 flushes. The most efficient home toilets use about 1.3 Gal/flush. 10,000 flushes would be about 13,000 gallons. That gives a comparative concentration of about 433:1! A bit hard to believe.

I don't disagree with jurisdictions requiring pump outs (already required), or with them finding reasonable ways to enforce it. I don't even mind a jurisdiction finding that the most efficient way to do that is to pay a contractor to do it on a regular basis. Actually, I think that may be one of the cheaper, more efficient alternatives. I just think that a contractor wanting to feed at the public trough should use valid statistics.

We live in Oceanside, CA and the marina is not the big tourist draw, it is the beach. It is imperative that the beach be kept open and free from fecal pollution. The marina has 95 live-aboards which is a large percentage for such a small marina. Being a city run operation, the dock-keeping standards are low with rusty bicycles, barbeques, torn canvas flapping in the breeze, etc. I prefer to drive 45 miles south to San Diego than drive 6 miles to this marina.

Bingo...the horse I have in this race is I am installing an electrocsan unit...have purchased a salinity refractometer and salt additive so it will work anytime I'm in the ICW instead of just not worrying about it....a big PIA for boaters yet towns and industry aren't as easily targeted as a boater by a boarding officer or the ridiculous "dye" requirement.

If you want to pollute...it's easy. If you want to try and comply... it's hard....what's wrong with that picture?

ancora said:

We live in Oceanside, CA and the marina is not the big tourist draw, it is the beach. It is imperative that the beach be kept open and free from fecal pollution. The marina has 95 live-aboards which is a large percentage for such a small marina. Being a city run operation, the dock-keeping standards are low with rusty bicycles, barbeques, torn canvas flapping in the breeze, etc. I prefer to drive 45 miles south to San Diego than drive 6 miles to this marina.

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the ridiculous thing is that those liveaboards that spend a grand or so to get a electroscan system would actually be helping to clean up the water by purifying it beyond many standards...

Yet I'll bet the bay is more polluted from other sources and the boaters are the easy target.

Greetings,
Mr. ASD. I have no problem what-so-ever with mandatory dye additions, close monitoring or strict application of the law. Not really a big deal to add once a month or every pump out. I had a transient boat beside me last year who left his slip before I woke up and his present to me was floating in the empty slip. THOSE are the kind of bastards I'd love to see dinged with a $5K to $10K fine. Responsible boaters I know wouldn't even think of dumping inshore. I know nothing about marine treatment systems so I can't comment.
Just had a thought...How about spitting the fine with the reporter? $5K for me, $5K for the state...

Mandatory pumpouts made a huge and very visible difference in Boot Key Harbor (Marathon, FL), as well as many harbors on Long Island Sound, and even in Westport Harbor MA, which has a very swift ebb current, being a river, and is not a year around harbor. . The only proven way of accomplishing this that I know of is to have a pump out boat come on a scheduled basis and pump you out whther you are on board or not. Cost of which is included in the mooring fee.

Mandatory pumpouts every month? Most/many boats aren't even boarded by their owners even once a month!!

My $30 monthly pumpouts (the pumpout company only services our marina once a month) extract between five to twenty gallons at a time, and I do extra flushes just to put more water in the 35-gallon holding tank.

psneeld said:

"Thornton. After staging her business at the harbor for the past four years, she said she hardly sees anyone at the public pump out stations.
“For one 30 gallon tank of concentrated human waste dumped into that harbor, it’s like 10,000 people flush their toilet at home and it went into the water,” she said. "

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A 30 gallon tank holds about 40 flushes if you are lucky, not 10,000. The waste is not any more concentrated than gal/flush household toilet.

But, you guys (and gals) are "yacht owners", and y'all are loaded. So you can afford a few coins a day to help out a poor struggling artist, err, the environment, yeah, help out the environment, that's the ticket.

I suspect the many more smaller day use boats, trailerables, runabouts, jet skis, pontoons, etc are the cause more pollution than all the sailboats, trawlers, and mega yachts on the water.

Here's the solution.



No pesky holding tank to harm the environment. Come to think of it this may have been RT's transient neighbor.

Here's the solution.

What no magazine rack?

Craig I see the dinghy has been launched.

caltexflanc said:

Mandatory pumpouts made a huge and very visible difference in Boot Key Harbor (Marathon, FL), as well as many harbors on Long Island Sound, and even in Westport Harbor MA, which has a very swift ebb current, being a river, and is not a year around harbor. . The only proven way of accomplishing this that I know of is to have a pump out boat come on a scheduled basis and pump you out whther you are on board or not. Cost of which is included in the mooring fee.

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That looks like the solution to me. Include it in the dock fee-


1983 Present 42 Sundeck
Lehman 135 Twins

Alaskan Sea-Duction said:

But what does everyone think of the requirement (law) that you WILL put a dye tab in you head? I don't advocate dumping RAW waste within the 3nm zone, it just seems an over reach of government. Boats are the main polluters of a bay? Does the city or town dump sewage into the bay? What about those boaters that have gone and installed a marine sanitation system on their boat?

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If someone can figure out a not-too-bureaucratic way to administer, I would be all for it. My marina has over 5,000 boats and nothing but the honor system to prevent people from pumping overboard. The problem is, no one has come up with a good way to make sure the dye gets put in the tank, since boats are coming and going all the time.

Mandatory pump outs may be the best approach, but monthly isn't enough for live aboards.

In the places i gave as examples, pump out was weekly.

I also have a pump out business in Oceanside harbor, even tho I charge less than the other, I do not have very much business but am slowly gaining customers, I have only been there 6 months. I have mixed emotions about the dye tablet, I do not advocate the mandatory pump out of all boats in the harbor. From some of my customers they are sure some do discharge in the harbor, others not so sure it happens. The times I am in the harbor most boats do not move except to get their safety checks. I have heard Oceanside as a blue collar harbor, and many only spend money on their boats when they can afford it. That's not saying they all or even most are that way. There is two pump out stations in the harbor and two mobile pump out services. We all need to keep the water ways clean, forcing mandatory pump outs could mean more business for me but I am like you and and don't want to be forced into that kind of regulation. Dye tablets I can see that it gives the boat owner their choice of how to empty, whether you pay someone, do it yourself , or go to sea, just please do it in the right way.

Greetings,
Welcome aboard Mr. b. Great to hear from somebody in the industry. I am not advocating mandatory pump outs either-only when needed-but dye tablets (could even distribute them for free) would pinpoint those who were polluting the water. Blue collar boater or not if one can't afford a pump out or decides THEIR poop doesn't stink, they should face the consequences. It's MY water too.

CPseudonym said:

Here's the solution.

View attachment 30217

No pesky holding tank to harm the environment. Come to think of it this may have been RT's transient neighbor.

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Very high dilution factor as well!

Now that's funny but brown trout won't live in salt water.

In the 90's, when we lived in Shilshoe Marina, Seattle, there was a movement to get rid of the liveaboards. The water in the marina did meet water quality standards and of course it was because of the liveaboards. The Port of Seattle paid for a study that showed that even if all the boats were gone, water quality standards, for fecal coliform, would still not be met. The solution was to raise the rent $50/month. If you contracted with a pump out service or showed that you went to the pump out station weekly, you got the $50 back. We contracted with SS Head for weekly pump out service. It was a good solution.

Guess I'm missing something... wouldn't be the first time... but how do they see that dye at night on an outgoing tide? Or do people dump during the day so this whole concept might show something?

Dave

Greetings,
Mr. M. Nope, I don't think you're missing anything at all. Those underhanded enough to resort to "sneakiness" will eventually be caught out. Could have a glow in the dark dye I suppose. super high glow phosphorescent luminofor pigment, View luminofor pigment, ANJ Product Details from Beijing Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd. on Alibaba.com

bumpbug said:

Now that's funny but brown trout won't live in salt water.

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Blind Mullet do just fine though.

Simple Solution: Holding tank with no over board release outlet, i.e. evacuation by pump-out only! That's what we have. Make that mandatory and there cannot be effluent released into waters. Period!

Ta heck with blue die!