California's pumpout problem

Boat/US Magazine, Nov, 2005

The state that prides itself on being on the cutting edge of environmentalism has produced a dismaying report on the lack of pumpout facilities for boaters in local marinas. A recent report by the California Department of Boating and Waterways found a shocking lack of waste removal facilities available in the nation's third biggest boating state.

"This has been a very complex situation with much resistance from the small marinas as they maintain that the only viable place to put pumpouts is at the end ties, i.e. the top bar of a "T" configured dock. That is precisely where the biggest boats are moored which generate the greatest revenue for these marinas," said Ray Tsuneyoshi, director of the department.

Most of the pumpouts are funded by a Wallop/Breaux program that his department administers. Publicly owned facilities receive grants to cover all of their installation costs. "The 75/25% split for private marinas can be a big financial hurdle for some of the smaller facilities trying to come up with their 25%," he said.

"There have been complaints of inadequate numbers of pumpouts, which we investigate and invariably find that the units are there but inoperable due to lack of maintenance. This has been frustrating for us because part of the grant structure allows funds to be provided for this upkeep. There are also some marinas that apply for maintenance funds only to sit on those funds while they deal with more urgent priorities," said Tsuneyoshi.

The report surveyed pumpout and dump stations (for porta-potties) in 77 marinas in Los Angeles and Ventura counties and found a surprising 56 had no pumpout stations at all. Over 15,500 boats were docked at these marinas. To operate legally with an installed head, boaters must either use a Type I marine sanitation device, travel to a marina that has pumpout facilities or go out in the ocean and empty their holding tanks out beyond the three-mile limit.

The survey is meant to help the State Water Resources Control Board determine which marinas in selected regions need to provide additional sewage disposal facilities. Additional areas of the state will be surveyed in the future, said Tsuneyoshi.