More places to pump out

June Casagrande

An alarming shortage of working sewage pump-out stations in Newport

Harbor could improve soon as state and local officials work with

environmentalists to rewrite standards for three local harbors.

As soon as next month, the California Regional Water Quality

Control Board will be working with the cities of Newport Beach and

Huntington Beach to create a set of standards for pump-out stations.

Newport Beach officials have submitted a proposed plan for the

regional board to tighten and enforce standards. Their proposal,

which the board has the final authority to approve, would require the

harbors to have one publicly accessible pump-out station for every

500 vessels.

Some have suggested one for every 300 boats, but even

environmental watchdog Orange County CoastKeeper believes that may be

too stringent.

“The goal is to make sure that people who go out of their way to

do the right thing and take their boats to pump-out stations have

easy access to pump-out stations in working conditions,”

CoastKeeper’s Gary Brown said.

The standards are the result of a survey that CoastKeeper did late

last year that showed a serious shortage of places where boaters

could legally empty their boats’ sewage tanks. Out of 23 pump-out

stations in Newport Harbor, only 13 were in operation during a survey

last October. The pump-out stations are owned by yacht clubs,

pleasure cruise companies, the city and the county.

Assistant City Manager Dave Kiff said the city is eager to improve

the situation in hopes that boaters can be further discouraged from

emptying their sewage holds into the harbor or ocean.

“The goal should be zero tolerance for having pump-out stations

inoperable for long periods of time,” Kiff said.

The regional board will offer its version of the requirements next

month. Public hearings will be scheduled afterward. The city will

also start sending out educational materials to pump-out station

operators, letting them know that a crackdown is coming.