[alberg30] Lectrasan MSD

[Gordon E. White]

To add my 2 cents to the toilet question - my ethic for years has been not to
soil our own nest. I recall in the 1940s when the ocean front cottages in
Maine had sewer pipes that ran out into the sea about 100 feet - half a mile
from bathing beaches - and I knew that was bad. We certainly should not pump
solids into restricted areas like small lakes, marinas and harbors where there
is no natural flushing.

    BUT - the sea is a big place. There is no way the recreational boats pump
even a fraction of the waste the natural fish, seal, bird and crab populations
drop, even in Chesapeake Bay. In my mind, pumping in mid-Bay, (even if not
"legal") is not hurting the environment.

    The runoff from city storm sewers let alone the sanitary sewers/sewage
plant effluent of course needs to be cleaned up, but even a few thousand
boats? Get serious.

    It is, of course, politically correct.....

    I note that in Western Canada (unlike Eastern Canada) no one, least of all
the officials, makes any pretext that yacht pumping is a problem. I spent a
week in the Straits of Georgia inside Vancouver Island last month. This is an
area quite analogous to Chesapeake Bay in size. There are NO rules there
against pumping overboard, even though there is as vast a boat population as
on the Bay.

    There are the beginnings of rules against pumping in enclosed areas like
Gorge Harbor and other marinas and small coves, which I feel is quite proper.

    I note that politically correct envirionmental rules in the Washington DC
area have reached the "don't breathe out" point. I got a flier here in
Alexandria suggesting a voluntary restriction on people going outside on days
of high air pollution.

    I was an enthusiastic environmentalist for years, and still am, but for
things that matter.

    If the environmental thought police really cared there would be a lot more
places for us to pump out. There is not one where I keep my boat on the
Piankatank River within at least 25 miles. So for now I pump into a 5 gallon
plastic jerry can I carry up to the toilet when I get home. Otherwise.....

    Sorry for the explosion, guys.

                                        - Gordon White, A-275
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