New York State Canal System now ´no discharge zone´

May 27 -- The entire New York State Canal System is now a "no discharge zone" for boats using the waterway, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

Instead of discharging sewage into the canals, boaters must pump out sewage at designated shore-based stations.

The EPA said the New York announcement is part of an ongoing effort to protect the nation´s waterways. Discharges of sewage from boats can contain harmful levels of pathogens and chemicals such as formaldehyde, phenols, and chlorine, which have a negative impact on water quality, pose a risk to people´s health, and impair marine life, the EPA said.

"Pumping sewage from boats into local waters is a practice that is both harmful and completely unnecessary," said EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck. "Boaters should access facilities into which they can pump their waste, and we can move toward eliminating this source of pollution in New York´s waterways once and for all."

The New York State Canal System is 524 miles long and includes the Erie, Cayuga-Seneca, Champlain and Oswego canals. These four canals link the Hudson River, Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes and the Niagara River. Prior to the discharge ban, vessels operating in these waters were allowed to discharge treated sewage from approved marine sanitation devices.

For more information about no discharge zones, visit http://www.epa.gov/region02/water/ndz/index.html.

To view a map of the New York State Canal System, visit New York State Canal Corp.´s website http://www.nyscanals.gov/maps/index.html.

Contact Waste & Recycling News reporter Amanda Smith-Teutsch at 330-865-6166 or asmith-teutsch@crain.com