DEM AWARDS $183,985 IN FEDERAL FUNDS TO ADD SEVEN NEW BOAT SEWAGE PUMP-OUT FACILITIES

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News Release
RI Department of Environmental Management
235 Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908
(401) 222-2771 TDD/(401) 222-4462

For Release:	July 31, 2008
Contact:	Gail Mastrati 222-4700 ext. 2402

DEM AWARDS $183,985 IN FEDERAL FUNDS TO ADD SEVEN NEW BOAT SEWAGE PUMP-OUT FACILITIES

More Than $51,000 in Additional Funds Awarded for Repairs, Upgrades to Existing Facilities

PROVIDENCE - The Department of Environmental Management has awarded $235,726 in grants for new or upgraded marine pump-out facilities. The amount includes $183,985 for new pump-out facilities and $51,741 for repairs or maintenance to currently operating systems. Funding for the projects was provided to DEM through the federal Clean Vessel Act pump-out grant program, administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Each grant requires a 25 percent match.

These grant projects will add three new pump-out boats and four new stationary pump-out locations to the 11 pump-out boats and 43 shoreside facilities already available to boaters in Rhode Island waters. There are an estimated 54,000 boats that use Rhode Island waters each year, including more than 44,000 registered in Rhode Island.

The largest grant, $56,250, has been awarded to the Town of North Kingstown for a new pump-out boat to service approximately 330 town moorings in Wickford Harbor, Allen Harbor and the West Passage. In addition, Norton's Shipyard and Marina, Inc. of East Greenwich was awarded a $52,735 grant for a new pump-out boat to service its facility as well as Greenwich Cove and Greenwich Bay. Old Port Marine of Newport received a $15,000 grant for a new pump-out boat that will service Newport Harbor.

Fifteen thousand dollar grants have been awarded to Quality Yacht Services of Tiverton for a new pump-out facility to service Tiverton and the Sakonnet River, to Pleasant Sea View Inc. of Warwick for a new pump-out facility to service Warwick Cove, Stone Cove Marina of Wakefield for a new pump-out facility to service Point Judith Pond, and the Barrington Yacht Club for a new pump-out facility to service the Barrington River.

Grants for repairs and upgrades include $15,000 to the Town of New Shoreham for renovation of a pumpout boat that services Block Island, $12,928 to New England Boat Works Inc. of Melville for replacement of its pumpout facility, $8,325 to the Town of Bristol to replace the pumpout facility at Rockwell Pier that serves Bristol Harbor, $7,875 to Brewers Greenwich

Bay Enterprises Inc. of East Greenwich for replacement of a stationary pumpout facility that serves Greenwich Bay, and $7,613 to Goat Island Marina of Newport for replacement of a stationary pumpout facility.

Boaters have been prohibited from discharging sewage into Rhode Island waters since 1998, when Rhode Island became the first state in the country to receive a statewide "no discharge" designation from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Boat sewage can degrade water quality by introducing bacteria, pathogens, and chemicals, harmful to humans and marine life, and by introducing excess nutrients that stimulate algae blooms which deplete oxygen. Over the past 10 years, DEM has been educating boaters about the law, boosting efforts to enforce the law, and working to assure a sufficient number of pump-out facilities for boaters' convenience.

To date, DEM has awarded more than $1 million in Clean Vessel Act funds for pump-out facilities to make it convenient for boaters to dispose of boat sewage properly.

For further information, contact Joseph Migliore at DEM's Office of Water Resources, at 222-3961 ext. 7258 or via e-mail at joseph.migliore@dem.ri.gov.

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