Banned in Boston, But Not in Nahant
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Current No Discharge Map: November 2008
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The new Boston "No Discharge Area" would encourage boats to pollute Nahant.
Map adapted by Emily Potts. |
Boston’s new "No Discharge Area" could have the effect of encouraging ships and boats to pump out their sewage in Nahant waters, increasing pollution on the south side of Nahant, including Bass Point, Tudor Beach, Jo Beach and the Nahant wharf area.
The Environmental Protection Agency plans to approve a dumping ban in Boston that would extend three miles out from Boston Harbor. As the adjacent map, adapted by Emily Potts, indicates, the ban on pumpouts would extend around Winthrop, cutting back towards Revere. Hull would be included, but not Nahant. The article "EPA to approve dumping ban," in the August 7 Boston Globe, included a front-page map that cut off the Town of Nahant as if it did not exist.
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Nahant needs to act quickly to protect its shores and beaches from this threat. Perhaps the best solution would be for Massachusetts to declare all the coastal waters out to the three-mile limit a No Discharge Area. This has already been done by New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. Another solution would be for Nahant to join with Lynn, Swampscott, Marblehead and communities up the coast to declare a No Discharge Area for the North Shore. Nahant could also declare a No Discharge Area in its own waters.
Linda Pivacek, chair of Nahant's Open Space Committee points out, "When Mass Fish & Wildlife and the MWRA became involved in the Boston Harbor cleanup and secondary sewage treatment, they began monitoring the Harbor. The Boston Harbor area was defined by its logical geographic borders including Hull as the southern border and Nahant as the northern border. I have personally participated in waterfowl surveys including Revere to East Point, Nahant, for this monitoring project for several years. The current proposal limiting dumping from boats should continue to include Nahant as the northern border. Then a scientific evaluation of the impact of this proposal on the health of Boston Harbor can be made using invaluable historical data and continued monitoring."
Most boat owners thought it was already illegal to dump sewage of any kind within the three-mile limit separating state from federal waters, but apparently not. Boats and ships with minimally treated sewage can dump into Boston Harbor now, polluting the harbor and creating an excellent reason for the new No Discharge Area. The ban just needs to be extended to protect Nahant and other communities. The ban as currently proposed would send polluters out of Boston Harbor and into Broad Sound and the coastal waters and beaches of Nahant.
Below is the definition of No Discharge Area, from the Massachusetts Office of Coastal Zone Management.
No Discharge Areas
Definition
A No Discharge Area, or NDA, is a designated body of water in which the discharge of ALL boat sewage, even if it is treated, is prohibited. A body of water can become an NDA if a community or state believes that the waters are ecologically and recreationally important enough to deserve further protection than that provided by current Federal and State laws.
Federal Law prohibits the discharge of untreated sewage from vessels within all navigable waters of the U.S., including coastal waters (within three miles of shore). Boats with functioning Type I and Type II Marine Sanitation Devices (MSDs) may discharge treated effluent in coastal waters UNLESS they are in an NDA. A Type III MSD or "holding tank" is the only type that can be used legally within an NDA.
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