The nutrients argument was used to get the Florida Keys declared a No Discharge Zone. The group pushing for it stated flat out they knew the few boats with Lectra/Sans were not a problem, but they felt they could get a lot of publicity out of it. Interesting is that a week or two after the keys became a NDZ, the results of a government study were released. Seems the biggest factor killing off the coral was all the development in the Everglades. All the dead plant matter (nutrients) that would wash down over the reefs each winter fed the reefs, and now there wasn't nearly enough "food". I didn't notice any movement to rescind the NDZ and encourage boaters to purchase Lectra/Sans to help feed the reefs!
We've had a Lectra/San since 1999. That's the ultimate, IMHO. Double treated with chlorine generated from the saltwater, macerated and "blended" so the discharge is a slightly milky, odorless and bacteria less liquid. The thing that scares off most folks is that it draws about 45-Amps when operating, but it works out to about 1.5-Amp Hours per flush because it only runs a couple minutes. The only down-side is that one has to add salt if in fresh or brackish water. Around 2002 a senator from Massachusetts and our Louisiana sponsored a bill to make the requirements 100 time more stringent and do away with NDZ's. The requirement for certification was a bacteria count of 1,000 per 100 ml. It seems when the testing had been done, the Lectra/San tested at 0 and another make (I have no idea what) at 8. So the new requirement would be 10 per 100 ml. The bill just sort of died from lack of interest from the other senators. Rick 'n' Cathy Morel S/V Valkyrie At 11:49 AM 6/6/2008, Geoffrey Trott wrote: >I'm not sure how I got into this discussion but since I make >composting toilets for a living I've done quite a bit of research on this.... > >You are correct urine is sterile and will lose sterility quickly >when dumped into a nonsterile body of water. However, so will the >contents of a can of vacuum packed (sterile) soup when dumped into >the water. Which means that one is no more likely to "catch >something" from the expelled soup than the urine. > >The issue in dumping urine is not in causing disease but in that one >is adding nutrients to a system that is most likely overloaded with >them aleady. Too many nutrients causes unbalance in the local >ecosystem and has the ultimate and general effect of reducing the >amount of animal diversity. It makes all the sense in the world to >empty small amounts of urine and feces into areas that will not feel >the effects...open ocean at least a few miles out (where legal). > >Hope that helps, > >Geoffrey Trott General Manager Eos Design LLC PO Box 5 Mt. >Vernon, OH 43050 740-392-3642 _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
