Florida Keys declared no-discharge area

Boat/US Magazine, July, 2002

As of June 19, all of the state waters of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary became a designated "no discharge" area for vessels, meaning that boaters with federally approved Type I or II treatment systems may not use them while in the region. (All U.S. waters are already "no discharge" for untreated sewage from boats.)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approved a request from the state of Florida on May 21 after nearly a year of public comment. The petition drew opposition from boaters, as well as the boating industry, mainly because of the scarcity of available sewage pump-out facilities in the Keys. According to the EPA's Federal Register notice, there are only 30 facilities to serve boaters in this vast 2,900-square-nautical-mile area. The EPA's final notice identified 26 places in the Keys where additional pump-outs are needed. However, the state of Florida does not require existing marinas to provide such facilities; they do for new or expanded marinas.

Much of the debate over the Florida Keys no-discharge area focused on the fact that water quality problems in the sanctuary were largely from land-based sources and those pollutants are largely nutrients, not fecal coliform bacteria. Even though estimates showed that vessels do not account for more than 3% of the nutrients discharged into Keys waters, the EPA, state and Monroe County, as well as marine sanctuary officials, requested the ban on treatment systems to protect harbors and marinas where boats congregate.

But BoatU.S. National Advisory Council member Chuck Husick maintains that nutrients discharged from boats are negligible and equal to about three oak leaves. "When a flush of about two quarts is dispersed into the surrounding water column, the effect is so minute it is immeasurable," he said.

At least some measures are also being taken to address pollution from shoreside wastewater treatment plants. All of them must meet best available technology and be upgraded by 2010, under recent Florida legislation.

The EPAs final rule also recognizes that enforcement of such a huge area will be difficult and says that most enforcement will focus on harbors, marinas and popular anchorages. While in the Keys, owners of boats with flow-through treatment systems must lock them shut. There is no requirement that vessel owners retrofit with holding tanks.

For a list of available pump-out facilities in the Keys, contact George Garrett with Monroe County at 305-289-2507 or e-mail him at garrettg@mail.state.fl.us. A map of the new "no discharge" area can be found on the Web site www.fknms.nos.noaa.gov or by calling 305-743-2437.