NOYB wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...

(!) He
looked really puzzled after he asked whether we had our sanitation Y
valve wired shut and I told him "no". I let him stew for a few seconds
before telling him we have an approved Type I MSD.

Whenever a vessel equipped with a Type I or Type II MSD (these types
discharge treated sewage) is operating in an area of water that has been
declared a No Discharge Zone, the MSD cannot be used and must be secured to
prevent discharge.When operating in a No Discharge Zone, a Type I or Type II
MSD must be secured in some way to prevent discharge. Closing the seacock
and padlocking, using a non-releasable wire-tie, or removing the seacock
handle would be sufficient.


http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknow...ting/4_2_f.htm

Chuck,
If you have a Type I or Type II MSD, the MSD must be secured with a seacock
and padlocking or wire-tie.


From the definitions that I've read, it appears that I have a Type III
MSD...and only the Type III MSD doesn't need to be padlocked or wired shut.
Your Type I MSD *does* need to be secured according to the description that
I posted above.


You've got it backward, NOYB.

A type-III system is a holding tank. A holding tank does nothing to
disinfect human waste.
It's simply a storage tank for sewage. You can't pump your holding tank
overboard in any inland waters or less than three miles offshore. The
only time you can operate in inland waters or less than 3-miles
offshore with a Type III without your Y valve wired shut is if you own
one of the increasing numbers of boats that have no option for disposal
of waste except a pumpout- and in that case you won't have a Y valve.

A type-I system reduces the bacterial count to something that would
compare to the output of a typical, shoreside, sewage treatment plant
and (mine, at least) also "liquifies" any solids before discharge.

Outside of a designated no-discharge zone, it is not illegal to dump
properly treated sewage into the water. (That's exactly what happens to
it if you pump out and it goes to
a taxpayer funded shoreside facility- it gets treated and dumped back
into the water). I do have a holding tank on board for use in a
no-discharge zone. When boarded, I was not in a no-discharge zone and I
did not have my Y valve wired shut. (I don't "wire it shut" when we
switch to the holding tank, to be honest- it's down in the engine room
and there is no chance that anybody would ever mess with it except
myself.