2023 New York Laws › NAV - Navigation › Article 3 - Navigable Waters of the State › 33-C - Regulating Disposal of Sewage; Littering of Waterways.

§ 33-c. Regulating  disposal  of sewage; littering of waterways. 1. As
used in this section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
(a) The term "watercraft" means any contrivance  used  or  capable  of
being  used  for  navigation  upon  water  whether  or  not  capable  of
self-propulsion, except passenger or cargo-carrying vessels  subject  to
the  Quarantine  Regulations  of the United States Public Health Service
adopted pursuant to Title forty-two of the United States Code.
(b) The term  "marina"  means  any  installation  which  provides  any
accommodations or facilities for watercraft, including mooring, docking,
storing,  leasing, sale, or servicing of watercraft, located adjacent to
waters of the state.
(c) The term "sewage" means all human body wastes.
(d) The term "litter" means any bottles, glass, crockery, cans,  scrap
metal, junk, paper, garbage, rubbish, trash, or similar refuse.
(e)  The  term  "marine  toilet"  means  any  toilet  on or within any
watercraft, except those that have  been  permanently  sealed  and  made
inoperative.
(f)  The  term  "waters  of this state" means all of the waterways, or
bodies of water located within New York state or that part of  any  body
of  water  which  is adjacent to New York state over which the state has
territorial jurisdictions on which watercraft may be used or operated.
(g)  The  term  "person"  means  an  individual,  partnership,   firm,
corporation, association, or other entity.
(h)  The term "department" means the state department of environmental
conservation, except as otherwise provided in this section.
(i) The term "marine holding tank"  means  any  container  aboard  any
vessel  that  is  designed  and  used  for the purpose of collecting and
storing treated or untreated sewage from marine toilets.
(j)  The  term  "pumpout  facility"  means  any  device,  portable  or
permanent, capable of removing sewage from a marine holding tank.
2.  (a)  No  person,  whether  engaged in commerce or otherwise, shall
place, throw, deposit, or discharge, or  cause  to  be  placed,  thrown,
deposited,  or  discharged  into  the  waters  of  this  state, from any
watercraft, marina or mooring, any sewage,  or  other  liquid  or  solid
materials  which  render  the  water  unsightly,  noxious  or  otherwise
unwholesome so as to be detrimental to the public health or  welfare  or
to the enjoyment of the water for recreational purposes.
(b)  No person, whether engaged in commerce or otherwise, shall place,
throw, deposit or discharge, or cause to be placed,  thrown,  deposited,
or  discharged,  any  litter  into  the waters of this state or upon any
public lands contiguous to and within one hundred feet of such waters or
upon any private lands contiguous to and within one hundred feet of such
waters unless such lands are owned by such person or unless such  person
enters  or  remains  with  the  permission of the owner of record or his
representative or agent.
3. (a) No marine toilet on any watercraft used or operated upon waters
of this state shall be operated so as to discharge any untreated  sewage
into said waters directly or indirectly.
(b)  No  person  owning or operating a watercraft with a marine toilet
shall use, or permit the use of, such toilet on the waters of this state
unless the toilet is  equipped  with  facilities  that  will  adequately
treat,  hold,  incinerate or otherwise handle sewage in a manner that is
capable of preventing water pollution, as required by this section.
(c) Except as provided in subdivisions four and seven of this section,
no container of sewage shall be placed, left, discharged or caused to be
placed, left or discharged in or bordering any waters of this  state  by
any person at any time.
4.  (a)  Every  marine  toilet on watercraft used or operated upon the
waters of this state shall be equipped with a pollution control  device,
either  for  the treatment or holding of sewage, in operating condition,
of a type approved by the state health department, in  conformance  with
applicable  public  health  standards  and  rules  and  regulations; and
approved by the  department  in  conformance  with  the  boating  safety
standards and rules and regulations adopted by the department. Pollution
control  devices  shall  be  securely  affixed to the interior discharge
opening of marine toilets and all sewage passing into  or  through  such
toilets shall pass solely through such treatment facilities.
(b) Sewage passing through a marine toilet equipped with a chlorinator
or  chemical  treatment  facility  shall  be deemed untreated unless the
effluent meets  standards  established  by  the  state  commissioner  of
health.
(c)  The  disinfecting  agent  used in the facility shall be of a kind
which when discharged as a part of the effluent is not toxic to  humans,
fish or wildlife.
(d)  The  active  ingredient in deodorizers used in marine toilets may
only consist of formaldehyde, enzymes, bacterial cultures or  any  other
ingredient  which  would  not  interfere  with  the  operation of sewage
treatment plants. No zinc or other heavy metal or phenol may be used  in
any marine toilet.
5.  No  marine  toilet pollution control device shall be used, sold or
physically offered for sale in this state unless it is of a  type  which
has  officially been approved by the department. The department approval
shall be issued only  after  approval  of  such  devices  by  the  state
department  of  health, as required by subdivision four of this section.
Notice of such  approval  may  be  required  by  the  department  to  be
displayed on the pollution control device.
6.  The department shall require persons making application for a boat
registration  certificate  for  a   watercraft   pursuant   to   section
seventy-one  of  the  navigation law to disclose whether such watercraft
has within or on it a marine toilet, and if so,  to  certify  that  such
toilet  is  equipped with a pollution control device as required by this
section. The department is further empowered to direct that the issuance
of a boat registration certificate or a renewal thereof be  withheld  if
such device had not been installed as provided in this section.
7.  The  owner  or  whoever  is  lawfully  vested with the possession,
management or control of a marina shall be required to provide  suitable
trash  receptacles  or  similar  devices  designed for the depositing of
litter  at  locations  where  they  can  be  conveniently  utilized   by
watercraft users.
8.  All  marinas that provide pumpout facilities and dump stations for
the handling and disposal  of  sewage  from  marine  holding  tanks  and
portable toilets shall do so in a manner that will prevent the pollution
of  the  surface  waters  of the state. The facilities for unloading and
disposal of such sewage shall be approved by either  the  local  or  the
state  health  department in accordance with guidelines set forth by the
department in consultation with the department of health. The department
of  environmental  conservation  shall  require  that  municipal  sewage
treatment  facilities  accept such waste originating from marine holding
tanks and portable toilets unless the commissioner determines that  such
action  would  cause  an  unacceptable  threat  to  human  health or the
environment or the operation of a sewage treatment plant.
9. All watercraft located upon waters of this state shall  be  subject
to boarding and inspection by the department or health department or any
lawfully  designated  agents  or  inspectors thereof, for the purpose of

determining whether such watercraft is  equipped  with  approved  marina
toilet pollution control facilities operated in compliance herewith.
10. Any municipality within which a vessel waste no-discharge zone has
been designated pursuant to subdivision one of section thirty-three-e of
this  article  or  any  municipality  adjacent  to  which a vessel waste
no-discharge zone has been designated pursuant  to  subdivision  one  of
section  thirty-three-e  of  this  article,  may adopt and enforce local
laws, not inconsistent with  section  thirty-three-e  of  this  article,
prohibiting  the  discharge  of  vessel  wastes  in  waters  within such
municipality, or in waters adjacent to such municipality to  a  distance
of  one  thousand  five hundred feet from shore. Nothing in this section
shall preclude the political subdivisions of Nassau and Suffolk counties
from regulating gray water discharge from residential vessels moored  on
tidewaters  bordering  on  and  lying within the boundaries of Nassau or
Suffolk county.
11. The department is hereby authorized and empowered to make,  adopt,
promulgate, amend and repeal such standards and rules and regulations as
are  necessary,  or  convenient  for  the  carrying  out  of  duties and
obligations and powers conferred on the department by this section.
12. A copy of the regulations adopted pursuant to this section and any
of the  amendments  thereto,  shall  be  filed  in  the  office  of  the
department,  the  health department, the water resources commission, and
in the office of the secretary  of  state.  Rules  and  regulations  and
standards shall be published by the department in convenient form.
13.  (a)  Any  person who violates paragraph (b) of subdivision two of
this section, shall be guilty of an offense and upon conviction shall be
punished with a fine of not more than two hundred fifty dollars,  or  by
imprisonment  of  not  more  than  sixty  days, or by both such fine and
imprisonment; provided, however, that in the event any  person  violates
this  section  more  than  twice  during  the  same calendar year and is
convicted  of  more  than  two  such  violations,  the  third  and  each
subsequent violation shall be deemed a misdemeanor.
(b)  Any  person  who  violates any other provision of this section or
regulations of the department adopted pursuant hereto  shall  be  deemed
guilty  of  a  misdemeanor  and upon conviction shall be punished with a
fine of not more than one hundred dollars, or  by  imprisonment  of  not
more than sixty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.
14.  Any  action  taken  by  the department or the state department of
health pursuant to subdivisions five or six of  this  section  shall  be
subject to review by the supreme court in the manner provided by article
seventy-eight  of the civil practice law and rules provided that no stay
shall be granted pending the  determination  of  the  matter  except  on
notice  to  the  department and the state department of health and for a
period not exceeding thirty days.
Proceedings to review any action enumerated herein shall  be  entitled
to a preference.
15.  If  any  court shall find any subdivision or subdivisions of this
section to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, such findings shall
not affect the validity of any sections of this act which can  be  given
effect.
16.  Nothing in this section, shall be deemed to repeal, amend, modify
or alter the provisions of article twelve of the public  health  law  or
the  provisions  of  sections  thirty-three-a  and thirty-three-b of the
navigation law.