Question on the couplers: When you open them, does the sludge left in the hose
dump out into the bilge? This seems like it would be a messy hassel. Also, if
it is obvious you are circumventing the law, they have other options. The
could interpret the law differently and let the judge decide. I'm sure even on
the best maintained boats, they could find something marginal that they could
ticket (think stupid laws from the 1800's). You may beat the ticket, but do
you want to wait around until your court date and go to canadian court or just
pay the ticket? Even if you win you lose the time.

Canadians aren't the only ones with this problem, but this is an issue of
polititains sacraficing a small group to look like they are doing something
useful. The boating community is going up against farmers (no one wants to
kill the family farm), factories (save the jobs), municipal treatment plants
(would you like your taxes raised to pay for upgrades). The quantities of
waste these other groups produce make the boat waste issue look silly, but
they have large lobbying groups so they get exceptions and delays. Upgrading a
municipal waste treatment plant is a far more efficent use of money and has a
much bigger impact, but then they have to increase taxes to pay for it. It's
far easier to implement rules that creates a large hidden tax on boaters and
really have negligable effect on the health of our waterways.

And guess what? The boating industry isn't interested in helping! Think about
it. Someone mentioned over $200 for two pieces of hose. Add up the cost for
modern sanitation system compared to the old dump it straight overboard
system. I bet you are looking at 10 times the cost and the new systems are
more prone to breakdown and there are ongoing cost for pump outs. These are
profit centers for segments of the boating industry. Why would they want to
fight it?

It sounds gross to dump raw sewage, but at low concentrations in open
water, it is pretty harmless (use a little common sense like not dumping in a
marina or dumping and immediately jumping in the water). If you look at the
formulas used for waste water treatment plants (yes I have some background in
this area), the big issue is BOD (bio oxygen demand) and ,if industrial waste
is involved, COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand). When you dump sewage into a body of
water, areobic bacteria consume the waste, but use up the oxygen in the water
as part of the process. If they use up all the oxygen faster than natural
processes can replace it, there is none left for the fish (they essentially
sufficate) and anareobic bacteria take over (these are the nasty smelly
ones). The problem (especially with older plants) is the have a single outflow
line and the area around it is overwhelmed with BOD. Areas around and down
current can become dead zones with oxygen depleted
water. For large cities this can be a substantial area. On the other hand, if
you take lake 5 miles in diameter (fairly small) with say 100 boats and they
dump a 20 gallon tank once every two weeks (keep in mind most boaters only
use it 1 or 2 days a week and use the marina bathroom some of the time so this
is a high estimate), there will be no signifianct BOD related impact on the
lake. This would be a heavily utilized lake.

Yes, I play by the rules, but I think it is important to bring up this issue
from time to time so people understand what the system is doing.

Mike
Valhalla II

The reply below was posted on this Great Loop email list by Kevin Redden Feb
2008. It is worth repeating, and I suggest that every future Looper retain
it for reference.

You do not have to remove the Y-valve, as long as you remove A hose in the
path going to the through hull. The intent on the law is to make sure
something in the path is removed so you can't discharge just by unlocking a
valve. What you remove is up to you. It can be the Y valve, it can be a
hose.

The actual wording of the regulation in both NY and Vermont is:

"Any holding tank designed so as to provide for an optional means
 of discharge to the waters on which the craft is operating shall
 have the discharge openings sealed shut and any discharge lines,
 pipes or hoses shall be removed or disconnected and stored while
 operating on the waters of said lake, its tributaries or outlets."

Kevin