[PSUBS-MAILIST] Marine Sanitation Devices

[tmsmalley@usinternet.com]

Re: Discharge of untreated waste.

PSub folks in the US need to remember that in general most inland waters are considered no-discharge by the EPA and state's environmental enforcement agencies. This means that no one may discharge any sewage or other wastes into the waters of that state.

The only legal "head" (or Marine Sanitation Device in US Coast Guard nomenclature) in these areas is a type III holding tank device. (Porta Potty is a type III)

Even in areas where discharge is allowed, often a type II treatment device is necessary to be in complience with the law. For the complete text of the US Federal MSD regs, check out 33 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations ) Part 159 at 
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-m/mse/mse3-33CFR159.html

States may (and often do) have MORE restrictive regulations than the Feds, but not less restrictive.

Tim Smalley 
boating education coordinator (and PSUBS nut)
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources



>
>From: MerlinSub@t-online.de (Carsten Standfuß)
>Date: Tue, 04 Sep 2001 19:44:02 +0200
>To: personal_submersibles@psubs.org
>Subject: Re: [PSUBS-MAILIST] Toilets
>Hi Mike, 
>
>CSSX will have two toilets - one stainless steel one, with valves 
>and a hand pump (vacum unit) to a disposal tank and valves and 
>electrical pump from the disposal tank to the outside. 
>This unit is build into a very small ladies room 
>compartment together with a hand washing board. 
>CSSX will get a mostly female crew (my option - but still 
>disscusing this feature with Sabine..) so there is a 
>good reason for a seperate ladies room.
>
>A second - just chemical portable unit - in the diver chamber.
>A shower also in the wet area of the diver chamber. 
>There is maybe a problem on longtime mission with the two divers -
>maybe the portable unit is too small for a week mission in the look out 
>chamber under pressure. But one diver can do sometimes a "Disposal dive"
>with the lower part of the portable unit.. 
>
>On smaller subs the place for the ladies room can be saved. 
>Put the unit just in the engine room. 
>
>A one week mission will be a nice smell expirence -  a old seaman
>told me (he was on a VIIC during WWII) - that some of the guys get 
>a little ill - from the fresh air they get from the sail hatch 
>after a longer dive mission at the end of the war.. 
>
>Another old navy man told me that the german, french and dutch
>dockworkers 
>in the french submarine pens get vomit during the first hours the sub
>was 
>back in the pen after a mission. 
>
>Carsten  
>
>"Michael B. Holt" schrieb:
>> 
>> Carsten, what do you use for a toilet/W.C./head/loo in CSSX?   A lady
>> friend asked me that.
>> 
>> Women, it seems, have a need to examine every ladies' room they
>> discover.  This has echoes in psub design because we want our
>> ladies to travel with us.  What can we do about this?
>> 
>> (It came to me that the ARGONAUT JUNIOR has a built-in head.
>> I don't see any theoretical reason why one cannot let the
>> diver's well flood by pressurizing the air lock to ambient,
>> doing the act, and then increasing the pressure to blow
>> the, uh, material out of the sub.  Ignoring the potential
>> legal problems, have I made any mistakes with this idea?
>> No, I'm not going to do it.  But my lady friend was asking
>> about it.)
>> 
>> Mike
>