Should I be ashamed?

[DumnMad]

Originally Posted by Cottontop

But I cannot find any scientific support for that argument. In fact, everything I find, some of which I posted, says the opposite: the pathogens in human sewage persist in salt water (longer in murkier water).

Yes, there are other defenses for direct discharge that can be debated as well (dilution is one); I was narrowly focused on the "salt water quickly kills pathogens" contention, which it seems to me should be rejected, unless someone can find some science I haven't.

The macerator is very effective for dilution(germs in lumps of turd would last longer) and cold water works better than warm (tropics).
I haven't been able to find for or against science either other than "dilution is the solution for polution."

[kapnkarl]

To answer the OP's original question... in this posters' humble opinion, yes, it seems there are a number of people who should be ashamed (including me). It seems unfathomable (no pun intended) to think that direct discharge is somehow ok if it's 'lectrosan'd or diluted or chopped to bits or maybe even swirled in a counterclockwise direction while chanting for some undetermined length of time. With all we have heard about worldwide disease and as far as we have come in its treatment, we have light years still to go... and understand. Thinking that "my overboard discharges don't add that much" is nonsense. We collectively add TOO much... and it needs to change. When I was a kid I used to see people toss bags and wrappers from fast food restaurants out the car window when lunch was done. It was easier than putting it aside until a garbage pail presented itself. Thankfully, most of us (not all) woke up and stopped doing that, and the roadsides are cleaner for it.

We are privileged to be able to travel the worlds waterways. Why would we consciously want to contribute to their pollution?

A little effort by each of us goes a LONG way.

[DumnMad]

Next you're going to ask us to cull all the marine animals.
Ever been within a 100 metres of a large seal colony.

[JPA Cate]

Originally Posted by DumnMad

Next you're going to ask us to cull all the marine animals.
Ever been within a 100 metres of a large seal colony.

Oh, Nick, I had to chuckle when I read that.

It made me wonder, if people faeces is about one ounce per each 12 pounds of body wieight, then how much faeces do whales produce? And think of the coral reefs, fish plus polyps! The mind boggles!

Ann

[Miniyot]

I love to swim. I love water sports....

After reading this.....

I know who I do not want to anchor near!

I think people who are caught discharging in anchorages or in rivers or lakes should be fined a rather large amount....say a thousand U.S. dollars OR they could swim thru someone else discharge...

[TrentePieds]

And what about the guano droghers of old who braved Cape Stiff to fetch home to Europe via the Port of Hamburg the bird turd collected by the tens of thousands of tons from the Chinchas Islands off the Peruvian port of Cally-o? The City of Callao would not exist today if it hadn't been for turd!

Modern agriculture, and such noble enterprises as Monsanto, would not exist if it were not for unadulterated turd by the megaton, and none of us would eat as well as we do!

Furthermore, leave us never forget that in the mid 1850s the United States passed a law that laid extraterritorial claim to ANY turd-covered island throughout the entire world! I don't s'pose it's necessary to mention that what the US wanted the turd for was the nitrate content that was ever so useful for making explosives. Remember that she'd just been through a war with Mexico and there was a civil war in the offing, among other things.

Best to keep perspective on every kind of effluvium :-)!

TrentePieds

[IdoraKeeper]

You should be ashamedAfter all how can you justify even having a sailboat...let alone spreading poop all over the place.

[senormechanico]

I poop.
Therefore I am.

I use my Electroscan,
so does that mean I am NOT?

[mstrebe]

Such a silly topic. Obviously hold your sewage in any bay or shore location within a few miles of other people, and dump when you're off-shore.

Simple rule: If whales can poop there, you can too. Otherwise no.

If you never go offshore, first shame on you, and second, pump out.

[valhalla360]

Poo Shaming: The triumph of emotion over logic.






In a small bay or harbor with others present, of course hold it but otherwise it's perfectly harmless in open water. Nature has already figured out how to deal with it.

[El Pinguino]

The sea...
Whales poop in it,
Fish fruck in it,
and beachgoers wash their feet in it...

[exMaggieDrum]

Originally Posted by natraps116

If your not in US waters it's really a waste of space... Cayman didn't check us once when we were on a ball there for a month

Sent from my SM-T700 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

You have never truly lived until you swim in an anchorage (for hull maintenance or pleasure) and have a "floatie" go by along with paper. Truly gross and very bad manners, not to mention health issues. If you do that you are one boats that we hate to be around. I can't think of many things more unacceptable in cruising. We found people doing this in little bays with little flow. Not that I have any strong feelings about this I have never seen other cruisers get worked up more than on this issue. I don't like my holding tank but it is one of the tradeoffs for cruising.

This is not about stupid government regulations or legality. It is pure unadulterated common sense and courtesy.

[senormechanico]

99.99% pure is good enough for me.

http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/vwd/up...010-Report.pdf

PAGE 7

Performance Evaluation Report for Type I MSDs

The Electro Scan device removed almost all
pathogen indicators (99.99% or greater).

Also on page 41:

The Electro Scan device removed almost all fecal coliform, E. coli, and enterococci (99.99% or greater).

[weavis]

the more I read regarding this subject, it seems to come to down to vessel size and the width of wallet.
I dont like holding tanks. If I were wealthy, I would have macerators and stuff to break it all down. IT would be drinkable when ready for discharging..... (slight poetic licence in play here)

Not being wealthy, I have opted to go the agricultural route of composting heads.

Pros:

1. Easy to use
2. Self contained
3. No smell

Cons:

1. Dont like emptying urine container.

However, Putting a float level in the urine container and draining to a holding tank or overboard solves that issue.

Mostly, I like taking it home after a month or two and sticking it on the garden or in the compost heap.

As for firing waste offshore-no problems for me. It seems to break up and disperse in a very small area. As for disease, salt water and sunlight tends to solve that problem.

[Sailorbob8599]

I think it's amazing if not amusing, that we can write so much about CRAP and still not agree on how to dispose of it ... I believe the Chinese spread it on their produce fields ... a good enough reason for me NOT to buy Chinese products but, I do not believe a couple of floaties will do you too much harm however distasteful or disgusting we find it. I agree with the previous writer who said salt water and sunshine will break it down in short order, basically rendering it harmless. This does not mean I advocate dumping in a harbour or popular anchorages. Store it and dump it off-shore.