GL: Lake Champlain regulations

[Dennis Bruckel]

Fred wrote...

Much as I would like to agree with you, I have to ask: Have you ever
seen a waiting line at a pumpout station? I never have, which means most
folks simply pump over the side when nobody is looking.

Dennis replies...

Every marina on Lake Champlain that I know of has a working pump out
station and lines are common on Sunday afternoons. Charges vary from free
with a overnight dockage or fuel fill up to as much as $20, and generally
there is no pro-rating for the size of the holding tank plumbed.The Lake is
about 100 miles long, and most transient vessels on it for a week or less. 

As I related personally to one posting...

I did not write the law nor suggest how it should be interpreted or
enforced.
 
But, I do know from many years of experience on Lake Champlain that what I
stated is how they do it. Locking a Y valve or thru hull valve with a
padlock, disconnecting the electrical connection to a macerator pump,
covering a switch controlling the pump, etc., etc. will not satisfy their
requirements.
 
I'm sorry that I can't tell you why the above or something else will not
work. I can only report what I have observed and been told by the
enforcement officers. 
 
The last I heard was the fine is/was $360.00! 

For clarity I am repasting Wes Eldred's quoting of the statute. The same
text exists in New York State.

The text of the applicable Vermont Statute reads:
TITLE 23
(sec) 3306. Lights and equipment
 
(e) Every marine toilet on board any vessel operated on the waters of the 
state shall also incorporate or be equipped with a holding tank. Any
holding 
tank designed so as to provide for an optional means of discharge to the 
waters on which the vessel is operating shall have the discharge openings 
sealed shut and any discharge lines, pipes, or hoses shall be disconnected 
and stored while the vessel is in the waters of this state.

Finally, Al asked...

And another thing, in reading the clip below. It says 'Every marine toilet 
.. shall .. be equipped with a holding tank'. Does this mean that one can 
in no way install a type I or II MDS (ala EltraSan) on a boat in Vermont? 
(unless it also has a holding tank?)

Dennis replies...

New York State and Vermont both require EletraSan effluent to be contained
in a holding tank according to enforcement agencies I spoke with last fall.

BTW, disconnecting the piping to make my small trawler legal in Vermont and
New York takes less than 2 minutes! 

Dennis

Dennis Bruckel, Cruising Editor
Waterway Guide
Albin 27  Sadie B
website www.debruckel.com