The Virginia Department of Health (VDH), Marina Program ensures that adequate sanitary facilities and pumpout/dump station facilities are provided at all marinas and other places where boats are moored. The Marina Program provides guidance to the State Board of Health in its approval of plans and other data; issues certificates to operate; notifies the Marine Resources Commission that a certificate has been issued; and assists the owner or authorized agent in the preparation of an application and supporting data, as may be required. There are 466 marinas and 347 other places where boats are moored documented in Virginia and 644 of the establishments provide approved onshore sanitary facilities.
The VDH Marina Program is managing the Clean Vessel Act (CVA) grant in Virginia. The primary goal of the CVA is to reduce overboard sewage discharge from recreational boats. Recreational boat pollution has been identified as a serious threat to local water quality in coastal areas where boats congregate. One of the goals of the VDH is to inform owners of vessels with installed and portable toilets about these problems so that the overboard discharge of sewage will be discouraged. Another goal of VDH is to ensure that adequate sanitary facilities, pumpout equipment and facilities for emptying of portable toilets, are made available at boat mooring locations to properly handle the wastes generated from boating activity. The CVA provides funds to subsidize the construction, renovation, operation, and maintenance of pumpout stations for holding tanks and dump stations. As a result of the CVA, boaters can expect to see more convenient and reasonably priced pumpout and dump stations, resulting in cleaner waters, creating a better habitat for fish and shellfish populations.
The Marina Program is also managing boat sewage holding tank pumpout demonstration projects in the Tidewater and Smith Mountain Lake areas of Virginia. For the past 6 years the Division of Wastewater Engineering, Marina Program has employed student interns to visit marinas where they engage boaters in conversations about the importance of properly disposing of the sewage from their boats. Public health and environmental aspects of protecting the Chesapeake Bay and Virginia's inland lakes are also addressed with the boaters and general public. The interns then offer to empty the boat holding tanks and properly dispose of the sewage at no charge to the boater. These demonstration projects have been very successful in providing an educational tool to promote proper management of sanitary waste from boats in Virginia waters.
For additional information please contact:
Marina Program
109 Governor Street, Fifth Floor
Richmond Virginia 23219
804.864.7454