


The new rule will create the largest coastal no-sewage zone in the nation, covering the entire 1,624 mile coast from Mexico to Oregon 3 miles out into the ocean. It is expected to prevent the dumping of 22.5 million gallons annually of ship waste, a good portion of which has historically oozed into San Francisco Bay.

"This is a problem that has been going on from the time boats first started coming" to California, said Jared Blumenfeld, the EPA's regional administrator, after signing the rule. "What we are really doing is creating a coastal zone that recognizes the importance of our beaches, surfing, swimming and the reason people come to our iconic coastline."

Millions of visitors

More than 150,000 cruise ship passengers visit San Francisco each year in about 50 mostly luxury vessels, often with their toilet tanks full to the brim. Another 2,000 container ships steam through the Golden Gate.

Statewide, nearly 2 million ship passengers annually visit California's shores.

The rule would make it illegal for ships or other oceangoing vessels larger than 300 tons to disperse treated or untreated sewage within 3 miles of the coast and inland waterways, including San Francisco Bay, the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta, San Pedro Bay, San Diego Bay, Santa Cruz Harbor and Humboldt Bay.

The U.S. Coast Guard will be responsible for enforcement, but state regulators will also have authority to enforce the rules. The EPA can impose stiff fines and penalties on offenders.

The fact that ships are still allowed to dump sewage along the California coast may come as a surprise to some folks, particularly after repeated beach closures and polluted-water warnings over the years.

The law has, in fact, been in the works for a long time. Ten no-discharge zones were established in small pristine areas, including San Diego Bay and Richardson Bay, in Marin County, between 1976 and 1987.

Four national marine sanctuaries, including the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, a national monument, portions of six national parks and recreation areas, and more than 200 other marine reserves and protected areas have banned sewage dumping in their jurisdictions.

California enacted measures barring large, oceangoing ships from discharging bilge water or "gray water" from sinks and dishwashers within 3 miles of the coastline beginning in 2003. Then, in 2005, a bill authored by State Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, became law, prohibiting the dumping of sewage sludge and hazardous wastes in state waters.

EPA jurisdiction

The problem was that the state didn't have the authority to enforce the law without approval from the EPA, which enforces the federal Clean Water Act. That meant the no-sludge zones were virtually unenforceable. The new EPA rule enforces the state law.

Cruise and merchant vessel owners insist they have complied with the 3-mile "no-discharge zone" for the better part of a decade, and some claim they expel wastewater only when they are 12 miles out. Still, the regulatory ambiguity made it possible for ship captains to expel the waste at their whim.

The final rule received widespread support from the shipping industry after it was simplified. The EPA estimates up to 40 percent of large passenger vessels would need to spend $200,000 each to retrofit their holding tanks.

Regulators said they hope other states follow California's lead and implement ship-sewage bans. Regulations are already in the works in Hawaii, Puget Sound and in the Great Lakes, said Marcie Keever, the oceans and vessels project director for Friends of the Earth.

"What California has done is unprecedented and we really hope this will push other places to consider it," Keever said. It means "cruise lines and the shipping industry can no longer use California's valuable coastal and bay waters as their toilet."
