All vessels must have holding tanks

iangrant

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It really is time that all vessels are fitted with holding tanks to stop pumping out neat sewage into the marinas and the sea.

Ian
 
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Now now there is no need to 'hit below the belt' ...

Actually anyone who uses the facility in a marina deserves the 'scumline' around the boat and should be keel-hauled preferably just after last stroke of the toilet pump !

It is actually against Marina rules to do it, loo-emptying that is, I haven't seen any Keel-hauling Prohibited signs lately !
 
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Of course we should not discharge sewage within the confines of a marina.
But just where do you think most of the sewage from the 50 million landlubbers ends up? A large percentage of this ends up being pumped straight into the sea.
Most coastal sailors know that the top mark at the end of a sewage outfall is usually a flock of delirious gulls.
 
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So there you go .... Holding tank emptied to local disposal point correctly .....
Council then pump it all with your little addition to the sea.

Is it better to let your little effort trundle away on its own to be broken up by the salty sea ? Or is it better to be in the tons ..... that creeps along the coastline destroying the Blue-flag status's .....

Actually I don't agree with using the sea as a garbage hole, but the above silly comment from me actually makes you think ....
 

colinroybarrett

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Presumably someone has done research on sewage at sea?

Does it matter if we dump it locally, or 3 miles out, apart from the obvious floaters etc. I would worry that the Med. will end up like the Norfolk Broads is/was, the tidal flow took it out and bought most of it back in again. How well can the ecological system cope with raw sewage?

I’m of the mind that “personal waste” is really not a big issue, it’s the gallons of cleaning fluids etc, that get dumped at sea from the mainland waste that cannot so easily be decomposed.

Anyone know of a Web-Source for such info please?
 

Footpad

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Perhaps the conclusion is that we all fit holding tanks once we have succesfully lobbied our sewage disposal companies into upgrading all sewage treatment works so that all sewage has tertiary treatment before discharge anywhere. Primary treatment, which is all most treated sewage gets, comprises putting it through a blender and screening out the condoms etc so that we can't identify it as sewage when it gets washed up on our beaches.
 

iangrant

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Re: Something in the water

I've heard that MDL are about to put something in th water so that it changes colour if you discharge into their marinas - no 1's turns blue no 2's turns daglo orange - then they can charge for that as well!!

Ian
 
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Guest

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Yes, and fit them to the fish too and...

Why? In tidal waters a little sewage is okay. However, we should club the seals becuase they make a HUGE amount of sewage, and kill the remaining fish becuase it's been proven that salmon farms poison the water around becuase of the salmon sewage.

Come on, except in non-tidal marinas there'es no problem. Of course they will introduce the law you propose in the UK and you will still be hard put to find a pump out station. On my recent summer trip all along the Broistol Channel and Ireland I did not find a single pump out facility.

What else would you like? Drivers licenses? Mandatory operator tests? A complete ban on antifouling (ferries and ships exempted, of course)? mandatory SSB licenses?
 

AndrewB

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Wouldn\'t it be more cost-effective if ...

... their marina restaurants put additives in meals that released a strong dye into the digestive tract? It should be easy to arrange, now that you confidently predict marinas and restaurants will be operating under a single franchise. Everyone knows that yachies never get further than the nearest eaterie.

Of course, different colours could be used by different franchises, that way the colour of your 'outpourings' could be used to check brand loyalty. A blind eye might be turned to the yacht in a pool of the right shade, but woe betide he whose heads outlet is stained with a rival franchise's colour.

(PS Thanks for livening up the board with your recent efforts, Ian).
 
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But some marinas, not even floaters can ...

Yep, a very famous marina on south coast is notorious for NOTHING getting out of the lock, it used to be only boats couldn't get out, now it's likely to have 'floaters' trying to get out as well ! Well I suppose thats why they can charge so high ..... the amount of time you actually spend in the marina ! - whether you like it or not !
 
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Treated sewage is generally actually 'Digested' after bacterialogical breakdown.
The raw is passed through the grids to break it down to uniform small size. Then passes into trenches with aeration outlets to 'jump-start' the bacteria to break it down further ....
Then it goes into large cylindrical open top tanks, where it 'digests' itself into a darker and safer liquid. Water that was run off earlier is filterbedded before running of into drainage / river systems.

How do I know ? Don't ask, but many years ago I had a 'school trip' !!!!
 

cynthia

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Re: Yes, and fit them to the fish too and...

When we had our boat fitted with a holding tank the Spanish agents couldn't believe it. Don't use it, we were told, it'll only smell. Look at the Med. they avowed, we have wonderful fish that do an excellent job of cleaning up the water. (I have to agree their water LOOKS blue and inviting.) They were in no doubt that the sewage disposal systems off GB were to blame for the pollution,not the yachties. We still use our tank, but maybe they do have a point!
 
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Re: Holding tanks.......

Apparently you all have much more liberal rules over there than we have here.....

Emptying a holding tank or pumping raw sewage anywhere in our marinas, rivers or coastal waters is considered
criminal and one can be fined and possibly even jailed....depending on the jusrisdiction. The marina that I am in as
a liveaboard has a right by contract to drop chemical dye tablets into holding tanks to detect overboard pumping.

I guess in many parts of the states we have had so much trouble with e.coli and other bacterias that even cities have
had to clean up their discharges and treat their sewage to a point of safety.

Me, I'm getting ready to install a "composting toilet" in my boat.....its Coast Guard approved and it even allows me to
close up two thruhulls on the boat.
 

bedouin

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Re: Composting Toilets

Never heard of installing one of those on a boat before - please give more details (e.g. what size, what capacity..)
 

milltech

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Pumping at sea is OK, but the incoming tide at Swanwick on a bank holiday weekend just after breakfast was a truly revolting site (intentional pun).

Holding Tank Story. A professional yacht skipper told me he was anchored in a beautiful spot in Greece with a big white motor yacht nearby. All the guests from the motor yacht were happily swimming round the boat when the automatic float switch hit the contact......
 
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Re: Composting Toilets

I'll do you one better.....here is their url: http://www.sun-mar.com I believe their home office is in the Toronto,
Canada area, and they have a place in the US.

If you look through their site you will find different ones. There is one that is made for RV's and one for Boats. From
what I can tell it will fit in a fairly small head. The capacity is generally considered to be for two people on a full
time basis and 6 on short durations. Also, from what I can tell the installation of it is almost "idiot proof" so I know
that I can handle it.

As far as cost effectiveness....it costs around $995.00 USD, but thats about it other than what else might be needed to install
it. No need for holding tanks, plumbing, chemicals, thruhulls, and gone are the worries about those items.

I am going to put one in our boat because the prior owner of our boat took out the "electric head", put in a manual
head, and then botched up the rest of the installation.....so I'm starting from scratch and doing it right. Also I have had
conversations with a couple of other liveaboards and they swear by them.

If I posted the wrong url for Sun-Mar....email me at Rob@Mainsheet.zzn.com and I'll send the correct one and edit
this post.
 

Grehan

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Pooh Corner

Unless you're in a Marina with really excellent tidal throughput that 'reaches every part' (is Camper + Nics like that?) then discharging anything into the Marina is, I think, just not on. I do of course exclude sunglasses, screwdrivers, assorted nut and bolts, water tank inlet keys, and other unintentional detritus.

Worse still was, when rafted at Bembridge on the (pretty crowded) outside pontoons, around about 10am one Saturday morning, and sitting in the tender 'at back' doing something or other, the neighbouring yachtie decided to evacuate his bowels, via his lavatory, into just that bit of the harbour lying under my nose. Presumably he was reading his Daily Mail at the time and thus lost all common sense. Frankly, I was just too embarassed to remonstrate, but the most rudimentary social skills should have told him not to dump right onto his own watery doorstep - especially in company, some of whom were enjoying breakfast 'al fresco'. Even our labrador's learnt that.

Out at sea, or even in moderately sizable and tidally swept bays/harbours, I think the amount of sewage emitted (is that the right word?) by yachts (or even yachts and motor boats . .) must be miniscule compared with the huge volume of water, and also compared with what might be being emitted by local towns (and/or commercial shipping?).

As an example, the surfers who banded together to fight 'surfing through sewage' type conditions were (are) mostly concerned about decrepid land-based untreated sewage situations - as should we all be. Bear in mind that 'sewage' covers quite a lot of non-humanly-extruded stuff.

Our own Standing Orders are (a) at all times, use the 'Greek Bag' provided for all 'paper' 'waste', (b) in Marina, use the shoreside facilities or use the holding tank in fairly urgent 'early hours of the morning it's peeing down with rain' type situations, (c) if land is further away than (say) a very long uncomfortable trip in the tender (1/2 mile?), discharge to sea.

What about swinging moorings?
 
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