DownWind Dockside Services

NEWPORT DAILY NEWS,

Online Wednesday, August 11, 2004

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Pumped up for business: Entrepreneurs launch new pump-out boat on bay

By Sean Flynn/Daily News staff

NEWPORT - Harbor Master Timothy J. Mills boarded a yacht last summer and found a five-gallon barrel with a toilet seat on top. When the barrel needed to be emptied, the boater lifted it up over the gunwales and dumped the contents into the bay.

Helping to make that kind of activity less excusable than ever, DownWind Dockside Services of Newport officially launched a new pump-out boat at the stone pier of King Park Tuesday morning, in the presence of city and state officials, including Mayor Richard C. Sardella and Sen. Teresa Paiva Weed, D-Newport.

The launching site was not a coincidence.

The swim area of King Park has been closed all summer because its beach is "thought to be particularly susceptible to water quality impacts from illegal boat discharges," according to the state's Department of Environmental Management.

The pump-out boat is co-owned by two young entrepreneurs, Emily Bockian Landsburg, 26, and Carsten Petersen, 32, who bought a 25-foot long 1969 cabin cruiser last summer, gutted it over the winter, and installed a 500-gallon tank to hold waste pumped from other boats.

DownWind's boat then pumps the waste into the city's sewer system at the city's pump-out discharge station on Long Wharf.

The new pump-out boat doesn't have a name yet, but Landsburg and Petersen solicited suggestions and got a load of them, including the "S.S. Different Day," "Merdemaid" and "Floater." The possible names go downhill from there.

"Our boat makes it even more convenient and economical for boaters to dispose of their waste in an environmentally sensitive and legal manner," Bockian Landsburg said, on a more serious note.

The launch comes just weeks after Gov. Donald L. Carcieri directed DEM to intensify enforcement of the state's no-discharge law throughout Narragansett Bay "with particular emphasis" on King Park in Newport, Warren Town Beach and Warwick beaches. DEM announced the crackdown on July 29.

Joe Migliore, principal environmental scientist in DEM's Office of Water Resources, said strict enforcement of the state's no-discharge law for boats and the easy availability of pump-out facilities does make a difference. He said the fecal coliform count in Block Island's harbor dropped from thousands of colony-forming units per 100 milliliters of saltwater in the past, to low double digits this summer. Bathing is allowed at counts of 50 cfu's or lower.

"On Block Island, almost the only source of pollution is the boats," Migliore said.

Mills said there are a "couple thousand boats" in Newport Harbor, which, along with stormwater overflows, are a source of pollution.

"Most people are good, because they are the users of the bay," Mills said. "But when we have a big weekend here with a lot of transient vessels, there are problems."

Boaters typically get their waste tanks pumped out when they are docked for fuel, but when the dock is busy or people are rushed, it may not always be convenient, said Mills.

DownWind's operators said they make a point to respond quickly to calls.

Susan Cooper, director of parks, recreation and tourism for the city, and her husband recently bought a 30-foot sailboat with a 25-gallon tank.

They called DownWind on Channel 73 of their VHF marine radio on Monday, and the boat arrived quickly. The service can also be reached by calling 619-1990.

"It took about five minutes and the charge was $5," Cooper said. "You can't afford not to use it."

A first offense for illegal discharge carries fines of up to $500 and/or a year in jail, according to DEM, and there are higher penalties for repeat offenders.

Bockian Landsberg and Petersen received a federal $15,000 Clean Vessel Act grant to finance acquisition and build-out of the pump-out boat. They said they made an additional $45,000 investment, including their own capital and labor costs.

One of the conditions of the grant is that they charge no more than $5 for a 30-gallon pump-out, and an additional $10 for each additional 30 gallons. Petersen said most boats in the harbor have tanks of 30 gallons or less, so the typical charge is $5.

Mills said Carl Bollender already operates two pump-out boats in the harbor, so DownWind's service is the third available to boaters.

"The more boats like this, the better it is for the harbor," he said. "It means less time the boaters have to wait for the service. If it's easy, they'll do it."

Sharon Teitelbaum of Watertown, Mass., looks over DownWind Dockside Services' new pump-out boat Tuesday at the Stone Pier at King Park in Newport. Teitelbaum is the mother of DownWind Dockside Services partner Emily Bockian Landsburg. (David Hansen/Daily News photo)