Letters to the Editor

This is not the first time Moses has been wrong.

Stacey: "Hey, Moses... you gonna pick that up?"

Moses: "Pick what up?"

S: "That 'Ho Card' that the SSA dropped on you."

Why don't you read carefully Moses' assertions and especially Lamson's refutation:

"Federal law prohibits the discharge of untreated sewage from vessels within all navigable waters of the U.S., including coastal waters (within three miles of shore)."

So--"treated" sewage can be dumped here? And untreated sewage can be dumped at 3.01 miles?

Although that's all federal law may require, it does not mean boat owners and marine businesses have to justify their behavior by sticking to that outmoded minimum.

Any self-respecting, sea-respecting, environment-respecting boat owner would make sure he discharged waste ONLY into onshore waste facilities.

That's what we did in Virginia when I had my boat there. We respected the coastal waters. Does Massachusetts have to remain a sewer?

Obviously, as stated, Steamship is not dumping untreated sewage anywhere in Nantucket Sound.

Better rethink that, Mattmesi,

Todd Callaghan of the Massachusetts CZM says, "Much of Nantucket Sound however is federal, not state waters...the Steamship Authority can legally discharge sewage into the center of Nantucket Sound (though we would prefer that they do not)."

That "pristine," "national treasure" is literally getting dumped on.

AHOY!

Have the standards for "treated" wastewater not been changed/modified/stiffened since twenty years ago? Cleaned up, so to speak? If they have, what are the new standards and do SSA vessels' on-board systems comply? If not, and if SSA's on-board systems are treating to twenty-year standards, there is clearly (or murkily) a problem.

There is one sure way to solve this problem---discharge only to an on-shore facility that provides the highest possible treatment level available. The issue here is not compliance or lack thereof with published standards, it is how do we keep ANY additional pollutants from entering the waters between Hyannis and Nantucket...and between Woods Hole and Martha's Vineyard. State, federal, navigable or waist deep...I don't care. I just do not accept that we cannot do better now than what was envisioned twenty years ago. I notice that no one has specified the level of purity of the treated waste water currently being discharged.

As for private craft...same thing...discharge only to on-shore facilities.