Newport considers new public pumps to bail out bilge water
Signs on the sewage pump-out stations around Newport Harbor clearly declare “No bilge,” but Newport Beach’s harbor resources manager, Chris Miller, knows that hasn’t stopped more than a few boaters from using them to clean out the crud from their craft.
But a solution could be on the way if the City Council approves Miller’s request for public bilge pump-outs.
Newport Harbor has several public and private sewage pump-outs but nowhere to properly pump out the dirty, oily water that accumulates in a boat’s belly, or bilge.
Miller has budgeted $150,000 to buy one or two bilge pump-out stations for the harbor. He’d like to place one at the 15th Street dock and, ideally, another at the Balboa Yacht Basin.
Bilge water and sewage are both waste, but they can’t be fed into the same disposal system — the infrastructure and treatment processes are different, Miller said.
Bilge water can contain leaked or spilled diesel fuel, antifreeze and oils and greases, requiring disposal at a hazardous materials facility, not through a municipal sewage plant. Also, sharp bits such as nuts, bolts, screws and splintered wood can fall into the bilge and damage pump-out systems designed for other matter.
“I’ve spent a lot of money and a lot of time fixing those — but most importantly ... it’s the inoperability of the vessel sewage pump-out station when they’re damaged like that,” Miller said. “And that frustrates the boaters. That’s of utmost importance.”
The city replaced all of its half-dozen sewage pump-outs in 2013 and Miller expects they’ll need to be replaced again in a couple of years. The sewage pump-outs get heavy use, so even with twice-weekly inspections, use and misuse can take them offline. Miller estimated there’s an issue with one or two of them every month.
The bilge pump-outs are a relatively small part of the tentative $2-million budget next fiscal year for parks, beaches and the harbor — most of the funds are proposed for dredging — but Councilman Brad Avery, a former city harbor commissioner, said the pump-outs are a long-overdue service.
Avery said bilge pumping is a chore — on a lot of boats, the bilge hold is hard to access, so waste can accumulate easily. Conscientious boaters can remove their bilge water with a wet-dry vacuum but still have to take the liquid to a hazmat center. And most boats have an automatic bilge pump, which under even a few inches of water will spit over the side of the boat and into the sea if unmonitored.
Avery doesn’t think anybody is intentionally polluting the harbor.
“I think we assume that everyone’s doing their best … and we want to give people the opportunity to do the right thing,” he said.
The City Council is expected to vote on next year’s total capital improvement budget — bilge pump-outs included — in late May or early June.
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