The Table Rock Lake Marina Association has implemented a program designed to protect water quality and quell public fears over boat sewage dumping. The plan of the No Boat Sewage Program is to inspect all boats in marinas that are equipped with on-board toilets. The inspection process can be conducted during routine maintenance procedures (such as winterizing) to reduce the inconvenience to boat owners.

What are the inspectors looking for? They are making sure that boats with installed toilets have sewage holding tanks and don’t have plumbing that would allow for overboard sewage discharge. Any boats that are equipped to dump sewage into the lake must be modified or their owners will lose their boat slip lease.

Phil Cox, co-owner of the Table Rock State Park Marina said that “there is no evidence that indicates boat sewage discharge is a common occurrence on our lake. However, our efforts are to be proactive on the issue to eliminate the potential for sewage discharge as well as to combat public perception that boats frequently dump sewage into the lake.”

The operative word here is “proactive”. The Table Rock Lake Marina Association has taken the initiative to reduce potential inputs of nutrients (that’s a nicer word!). As boat traffic increases on Table Rock Lake, and it certainly will, the issue of sewage dumping becomes less of a possibility and more of a likelihood. By dealing with the issue now, the Marina Association is heading off a potential threat to water quality and projecting a greener image of boat owners.
Mr. Cox says that only a small percentage of large boats come equipped to pump sewage overboard, and that most of the owners of those boats are responsible enough not to do so. He states, “As marina owners and operators, we are implementing an idiot-proof solution which is to inspect boats within our harbors to ensure that they are not equipped to dump sewage” “It a boat is equipped to dump sewage, that toilet system must be modified or face eviction from the marina.”

Tony Thorpe