Help us keep boaters’ sewage out of the Bay
Did you know that the discharge from the holding tank of one recreational boat used for one weekend by two people contains more bacteria than the treated sewage of a city of 10,000? That’s why we started our Vessel Pumpout Program in 1995. Keeping poop out of the Bay is one of the many ways we are working to protect the health of our coastal waters.
Our Pumpout Program has done more for the health of the Bay than just serving recreational vessels. In order to become a No Discharge Area, a designation that protects our waters from cruise ship pollution, the EPA required that there be adequate pumpout facilities throughout the region before granting this designation. We encouraged local marinas to install their own pumpout stations while leading an advocacy effort to encourage Maine to request a no discharge status for the Bay. Our Pumpout Program, then, set the stage for Casco Bay to become the first federally-designated No Discharge Area in Maine.
Thanks to a federal grant, 90% of our Pumpout Program is funded through the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. This means that if you make a donation of $25, $50, $100, or $250, you will help leverage $250, $500, $1,000, or $2,500 toward our work to keep sewage out the Bay!
More boaters than ever are plying the waters of Casco Bay. We are excited that our new boat will enable us to haul 650 gallons of sewage—twice the capacity our old pumpout boat could.
With your support, come summer, when thousands of boaters take to their boats for another beautiful season on the Bay, we will be able to better serve the health of the Bay.