Subject of an interesting article on marine sanitation, or at least the lack of support for it in Alabama in this month's Boat/U.S. Magazine. It's not online, but here is a summary: Rep. Jack Venable (D-Tallassee) has gotten legislation (H.B. 55) passed requiring that all boats with installed heads and plumbing have them inspected by the water police, and get a sticker... free now, but in five years this will cost you $50 a year. However, there was no additional funding given for this new "potty patrol" and the officers have never been trained as to what to look for. Since currently there are only 65 of these water cops to patrol a million acres of recreational waterways, they will have to do the potty inspections in the winter, according to marine police director William B. Garner. He did say they will not be stopping people on the water, and anyone found not being in compliance has 90 days to fix it. There is no mention of transients passing through AL. You'll really love this part. Alabama doesn't require any marina to have pumpout facilities, but this new law will prohibit boats with holding tanks to dock at marinas without pumpouts! Some boat owners technically will have to move to marinas without pumpouts!!! The estimate of pumpouts statewide is 60. Wanna bet how many are working, or in water too shallow to access? This stupid law seems to actually encourage marinas to rip out their pumpouts, so more people can legally dock there. Of course, enforcement is the key, and they don't seem to have the $$ to do that anyway. Another stupid environmental law. This one goes into effect October 1, 2003. Still plenty of time to overturn it, as it has already been signed into law. Of course, you can still use a type I or II MSD in areas that are not designated no-discharge. The Saxton Bill H.R. 3673 would allow them pretty much everywhere, and allow the on-board treatment devices to treat and discharge waste to standards that are cleaner than most municipal waste treatment plants. -- __________________ Keith "Sex is one of the nine reasons for reincarnation. The other eight are unimportant." - George Burns

                                          Ralph Salerno
                                          M/V ANCORA

It is so gratifying to learn that California is not the only state with "loony tune" legislators. Ralph Salerno M/V ANCORA

----- Original Message ----- From: "Keith" <klemmons@airmail.net> [snip] > > You'll really love this part. Alabama doesn't require any marina to have > pumpout facilities, but this new law will prohibit boats with holding > tanks to dock at marinas without pumpouts! Some boat owners technically > will have to move to marinas without pumpouts!!! The estimate of > pumpouts statewide is 60. Wanna bet how many are working, or in water > too shallow to access? This stupid law seems to actually encourage > marinas to rip out their pumpouts, so more people can legally dock > there. [snip] Hi Keith, My father always told me that leading with an apology or an excuse is a poor tactic. Sorry to take so long with this response. Your post got filtered by my ISP and they didn't bother to notify me till this morning. I'm also sorry if I'm misunderstanding something here, but.... It seems to me that this law would ENcourage marinas to install pump out facilities. For example, if the law were in effect here in WA state _and_ my home marina didn't have a pump out (it does) then at least half of the boats would be forced to leave. In our old marina which had a higher ratio of power boats the number of folks looking for a new home would be even higher. While it's true that most marinas around here have waiting lists I don't think that would affect the net migration away from pumpless marinas since, most of the time, the 40' boat that's replacing the one that just moved out will have the same sanitation requirements. IOW: The law, as you have stated it appears to force boats, that are equipped with holding tanks, to seek out marinas with pump out facilities and to shun those without them. Such a law will probably create some short term difficulties as both boaters and marinas try to decide how to deal with the new reality. Many marinas will resist spending money on pump out equipment. Given that there are marinas that manage to make a profit in spite of having working pump outs it would seem that the "poorhouse" arguments have debatable merit. I don't pretend to know about how this law would interact with the Saxon bill except to say that are more boats out there equipped with holding tanks than with MSD's. Based on that assumption it seems reasonable to say that there is a need for more pump out facilities in Alabama (and everywhere else) and that this law would indirectly cause that to happen. Obtusely yours, Alex