Additional pump-out stations on the way

Alicia Robinson

More public stations to pump waste from boats will be installed in

Newport Beach and Huntington Harbour, a state water board decided

Thursday.

The roughly 13,000 boats in Newport Bay and Huntington Harbour

already can use public pump-out stations in 16 locations, but a study

by the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board showed those

stations often break down or are not always accessible.

Many boaters dump sewage at sea, which is legal, but federal law

prohibits discharging waste in the harbors.

In an effort to reduce water pollution, the Santa Ana water board

in 2003 recommended that seven marinas and anchorages in Newport

Harbor and five in Huntington Harbour add new pump-out stations or

dump stations. The pump-outs vacuum waste from a vessel’s bathroom or

holding tank, and boaters can empty smaller waste tanks at dump

stations.

The State Water Resources Control Board on Thursday agreed with

the Santa Ana board and voted to require the new stations, despite

some opposition from marina owners. Under the order, several

homeowners’ associations that have marinas in Huntington Harbour will

be allowed to contract to use other marinas’ pump-out facilities

instead of building their own, and the regional water board must

evaluate the success of the new pump-out stations after one year.

The pilot program could someday be expanded to smaller marinas

here or all marinas along the state’s coast.

“Basically, right now, they’re just targeting those marinas with a

capacity of 50 vessels or more,” said Diane Edwards, an environmental

scientist for the state water board. “My intention is to expand this,

and I would like to eventually take it statewide.”

Environmentalists have supported the program because they think it

will help reduce water pollution. But some marina owners objected

because pump-out stations are costly to install and because they

don’t think many people would use them.

“You’re going to have a loss of revenue because you have to have a

slip permanently open for boats to use it,” said Steve Farwell, who

owns Swales Yacht Anchorage in Newport Beach.

Farewell also is concerned about liability insurance and security

if his private marina is opened to the boating public.

For now, Farwell thinks he may fight the order, which will become

effective when it is officially issued. That’s likely to happen next

week, Edwards said.

Newport Beach employees will have more work under the order, which

requires the city to monitor the pump-out stations here three to five

times a week instead of once a week as it does now.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers business, politics and the environment.

She may be reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at

[email protected].