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June 9, 2009

Pump-out boat will keep heads clear, harbor clean

By Ethan Forman

DANVERS — The latest addition to Harbormaster Chris Sanborn's tiny fleet has set sail to combat pollution, not only in the waters around Danvers, but in the wider area of Salem Sound.

The town's new pump-out boat has begun offering a free service to the approximately 650 vessels with holding tanks at Danversport marinas.

The aim is to keep boaters from emptying their marine sanitation devices, called heads, at slips or moorings, and to spare boaters from having to take a three-mile cruise to purge their tanks in the open ocean. Boaters don't even have to head to the docks for a pump-out and can now book one online.

"We want to make it as convenient as possible, so there is no excuse," Sanborn said.

The need for the pump-out boat arose last June when Salem Sound, of which Danvers' coastline is a part, became a no-discharge area, said Barbara Warren, the executive director of Salem Sound Coastwatch, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the quality of the watershed.

"All you need is one person to pollute the water for everybody else," Warren said.

The 19-foot center console boat looks like a sport fishing vessel, except it has an electric pump and a 230-gallon tank below deck.

Last year, Town Meeting voted to buy it for $55,000, and it joins the harbormaster's 25-foot fire boat and a Boston Whaler patrol boat.

Landlubbing residents are not picking up the tab, however. Most of the cost, 75 percent or $40,000, was borne by a Clean Vessel Act grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The town's waterways improvement fund, which receives half the town's boat excise taxes, paid for the rest. Another $8,500 federal grant will pay 75 percent of the cost to have five college kids run the boat over the season and to maintain the boat.

Tom Beaulieu, the Clean Vessel Act grant administrator for the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said the program statewide has kept 6 million gallons of effluent from polluting coastal waters.

"It's been a need for a long time," Beaulieu said, "and now people are more water conscious."

The harbormaster and the Danversport Yacht Club have become pump-out partners, of sorts, as the yacht club will empty the boat's tank at no cost to Danvers. The yacht club also won an $8,500 federal grant to update their pumps and pay for their service, which used to charge a $10 fee, but is now free.

"We worked with the town of Danvers and Marine Fisheries to provide free pump-outs," said Dan DeLorenzo, an owner of the Danversport Yacht Club and a member of the town's River Committee.

Staff writer Ethan Forman can be reached at 978-338-2673 or by e-mail at eforman@salemnews.com.

How to pump it out

What: New pump-out boat aims to keep local waters clean.

Service cost: Free.

When: Friday through Monday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., through the end of September. Thursday may be added in the future. Free service also available at the Danversport Yacht Club.

To register: Go to www.danversharbormaster.com. You can also hail the service on channel 9 or call the harbormaster's office, 978-762-0210. You need to be on your boat if you call or radio your request.

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