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Ship panel rejects pump-out
Sanctuary
committee could not agree on sewage, gray water discharge
BY TIMOTHY O'HARA
keysnews.com
KEY WEST -- A
Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary panel is recommending the
expansion of the no-discharge-of-sewage zone to encompass the entire
sanctuary, but the committee did not support the city of Key West's plan
to require cruise liners to pump out sewage at the dock rather than
discharge it into the open ocean.
Currently,
there is a no-discharge zone in about 60 percent of sanctuary waters.
The Large
Vessel Working Group agreed to recommend to the Sanctuary Advisory
Council, which is the policy board for the marine sanctuary, to pass a
resolution to support the city's effort in making "fair and effective"
environmental policies for large vessels.
The group
worked together for more than a year. Monday was the final meeting.
The group
balked on a proposal to prohibit large vessels from discharging gray
water in the sanctuary and in the harbor. Ships can discharge 360,000
gallons of gray water a day. The water contains detergent, bleach and
other cleaning products. Cruise lines can legally dump the water in the
harbor and in sanctuary waters.
City Port
Director Raymond Archer did little to lobby the group to support the
city's pump-out plan. The Key West City Commission recently decided to
push forward with a plan to require cruise ships to pump their sewage
into the city's central sewer system while in port.
Archer said
there is not enough infrastructure set up to support the plan and not
enough scientific data to show that the Keys are being impacted.
The Key West
Chamber of Commerce representative to the working group, John Dolan-Heitlinger,
said requiring cruise ships to pump out is not necessary because "there
is no scientific evidence" that shows the sewage is impacting the local
reefs or making it to nearshore waters.
"I think the
reef is gorgeous and we need to maintain it," Dolan-Heitlinger said.
More than 38
percent of the coral in the Keys reef tract has died since 1996, said
working group co-Chairwoman Nancy Klingener, Keys program manager for
The Ocean Conservancy. Such causes for death are from high nitrogen
loads that come from wastewater and other environmental factors, she
said. Some scientists have put the reef at close to 90 percent dead.
"If he thinks
the reef is gorgeous now, he should have been here 20 or 30 years ago,"
longtime Keys resident and commercial diver Peter Cone said after the
meeting.
Cruise lines
promised the state they would not pump out sewage within 12 miles of
shore, but no law mandates that and no agency oversees the cruise lines'
compliance.
Reef Relief
Executive Director DeeVon Quirolo presented current charts that show
eddies can push sewage-laden water across the reef and into nearshore
waters. A cruise ship can generate 30,000 gallons of sewage a day,
Quirolo said.
Sanctuary
Superintendent Billy Causey applauded the city's initiative, saying that
cruise ships are one of "multiple stresses" of the reef. Causey,
Klingener and Quirolo pushed for precautionary measures to be put in
place to save what is left of the reef.
Cruise
industry representatives to the working group said the proposal is not
necessary because many ships have Advanced Wastewater Treatment systems
and many should be fitted with the systems in the next five years.
However, no
cruise ships that come to Key West have the systems. Only ships that
cruise in Alaska waters are fitted with the technology, because it is
required there by state law.
The Large
Vessel Working Group was formed discuss the impact of large vessels on
the reef and harbors of the Keys. Klingener and co-Chairman Don Kincaid
will take the recommendations before the Sanctuary Advisory Council on
Feb. 17.
tohara@keysnews.com |
