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Key West Citizen: Feds adopt clean water rules & Keynoter: No-discharge zone expanded to federal waters of Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary

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http://keysnews.com/node/28125

I am so happy to see that this rule is finally being adopted to improve water quality for the Florida Keys coral reefs.    Craig Quirolo first proposed it in his comments on the creation of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary in the late 1980’s.  While a director at Reef Relief, I pursued the creation of a No Discharge Zone in the Florida Keys by drafting and helping the City of Key West establish the first Keys No Discharge Zone in the late 1990’s. Next we supported the effort to extend it to all waters of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary–and it was done for state waters of the sanctuary by 2002. At that time, I was part of a sanctuary working group effort and directed the launch of an educational campaign entitled Pump it. Don’t Dump it.   As a member of the county Marine and BOating Committee, I  worked to find funding to install additional pumpout facilities in the Keys to make compliance easier.  Next my focus went to all county waters of the Florida Keys (including marinas and liveaboards)—and that was adopted by the county commission in 2008.   Now—finally—after many years of pressing sanctuary officials and promises to do so (and almost two years after my retirement from Reef Relief), the NDZ  is being extended to all federal waters of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary this year,  2012.  What a long road to cleaner water.   DeeVon Quirolo

To read the final rule, go to: http://www.regulations.gov/search/Regs/home.html#documentDetail?R=0900006480ba42c0

Feds adopt clean water rules

Sewage discharge ban now includes all of sanctuary

BY TIMOTHY O’HARA Citizen Staff
tohara@keysnews.com

A ban on discharging sewage in state waters within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary is expanding to include federal waters.  The goal is to increase water quality on the Keys reef tract, where excessive amounts of sewage-related nutrients stimulate growth of aquatic plants and algae, which in turn smother live coral.
Of the 2,900 square nautical miles that make up the sanctuary, 60 percent falls under state jurisdiction and 40 percent is federal. Sewage discharge from vessels has been prohibited in state waters of the sanctuary since its designation as a no-discharge zone by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in 2002.
Under the new rule, which will go into effect Dec. 27, sewage discharge will be illegal in both state and federal sanctuary waters. The rule also requires that marine sanitation systems be secured in a way that prevents discharges within sanctuary boundaries.
“This rule is another important step in restoring the water quality of the Florida Keys,” said Sean Morton, sanctuary superintendent. “Combined with other strategies, such as increased pump-out facility availability and ongoing progress in advanced wastewater treatment, this new rule brings us closer to reversing the trends of declining water quality associated with human sources of pollution.” 
The sanctuary plans an aggressive public outreach campaign “to get the word out on the docks,” he said. The sanctuary also will work with the Coast Guard and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) on enforcing the no-discharge rule, Morton said. 
While conducting routine boat inspections, FWC and Coast Guard officers can inspect a boater’s sanitation system to make sure it is functional and secured so sewage goes in a holding tank.
The fine for violating no-discharge laws in the sanctuary range from $500 to $1,000, Morton said.
There is no reason to not pump out, Morton said, as there are 36 pump-out facilities in the Keys, and three of them — Key West, Stock Island and Key Colony Beach — are mobile.

Marine sanitation treatment devices do not kill all pathogens found in wastewater, nor do they remove nutrients such as phosphorous and nitrogen. The new rule will help prevent these pollutants from entering the ecosystem, said sanctuary spokesman Emily Crum.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries received more than 1,400 written comments during a 90-day comment period for the proposed rule, which was published in the Federal Register on Nov. 16, 2009.

 tohara@keysnews.com

 

http://www.keysnet.com/2010/12/01/284149/no-discharge-zone-expanded-to.html

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