St. Lawrence River Raw Sewage

WATERTOWN — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is accepting comments until April 25 on a proposal to ban the dumping of sewage from boats on the St. Lawrence River.

Many state waterways, including Lake Ontario, are already designated as “no discharge zones,” but the St. Lawrence River had not previously been so designated due to a dearth of facilities along the river for boats to pump out sewage, rather than dump it in the river, which, among other diverse uses, provides drinking water to about 17,000 people in the state.

The state Department of Environmental Conservation has petitioned the EPA to prohibit the discharge of sewage from boats and the federal agency has reviewed the petition and found that there are now adequate facilities to service boaters’ sewage needs. The EPA estimates that there are about 3,775 recreational boats on the river annually and 21 pump-out facilities available.

“It’s astonishing that in 2016, boaters can dump raw sewage into the St. Lawrence River,” EPA Regional Administrator Judith A. Enck said in a prepared statement. “Declaring this area of the St. Lawrence River a “no discharge zone” would provide cleaner water for people who use this river.”

D. Lee Willbanks, executive director of Save the River, Clayton, said given that most waterways in the state have banned the dumping of sewage, “it’s time” for the St. Lawrence River to be included.

“This is an absolutely perfect and very reasonable rule for the St. Lawrence River,” Mr. Willbanks said Monday. “It means one less source of potential contamination on the river, so that’s a super thing.”

Save the River is asking its members and supporters to send comments to the EPA in favor of the rule, which will also include commercial vessels such as cruise ships, who chemically treat their waste before dumping it.

The EPA said sewage discharge from boats can contain harmful levels of pathogens and chemicals such as formaldehyde, phenols and chlorine, which degrade water quality, pose a risk to people’s health and damage fish and wildlife.

The proposed “no discharge zone” will extend from Tibbetts Point on Lake Ontario in Cape Vincent to the western edge of Lake Saint Francis, just east of the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation. About three miles of waters that lie within the exterior borders of the reservation are not included in the zone, as DEC does not have the authority under the federal Clean Water Act to establish a zone there.

Comment on the EPA’s proposal can be emailed to Moses Chang at chang.moses@epa.gov or faxed to Mr. Chang at (212) 637-3891. Comments may also be mailed to Moses Chang, U.S. EPA Region 2, 290 Broadway, 24th Floor, New York, N.Y. 10007-1866.