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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.
<p> 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.
<p> 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.
<p> It is, of course, politically correct.....
<p> 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.
<p> 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.
<p> 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 <b><i>people</i></b>
going outside on days of high air pollution.
<p> I was an enthusiastic environmentalist for years,
and still am, but for things that matter.
<p> If the environmental thought police <i>really</i>
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.....
<p> Sorry for the explosion, guys.
<p>
- Gordon White, A-275</html>