Anne Arundel County No Discharge Zone Takes Effect July 1<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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June 30, 2022
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The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), along with the Severn River Association, Anne Arundel County, and the City of Annapolis, announce that a federally approved No Discharge Zone<\/a> (NDZ) designation for 13 bodies of water in Anne Arundel County<\/a>, including Annapolis Harbor, takes effect July 1, 2022. <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Anne Arundel County No Discharge Zone Takes Effect July 1 June 30, 2022 The Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) and Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), along with the Severn River Association, Anne Arundel County, and the City of Annapolis, announce that a federally approved No Discharge Zone (NDZ) designation for 13 bodies of Read the Rest…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":296,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,14,60,1],"tags":[28,108],"class_list":["post-3759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-clean-water-2","category-press-release","category-public-health","category-uncategorized","tag-clean-water","tag-public-health"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3759"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3762,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3759\/revisions\/3762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/mde\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
After receiving a request for an NDZ from the Severn River Association, Anne Arundel County, and the City of Annapolis, DNR and MDE applied to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for additional protection of Anne Arundel County waters in May 2020. After significant review and public comment, the NDZ is now final.
\u201cThe No Discharge Zone is an important protection for some of our most important waterways,\u201d Maryland DNR Secretary Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio said. \u201cThis is another great example of how Maryland is enhancing recreation while also protecting our natural resources, so we are pleased that this important policy is moving forward.\u201d
\u201cThe establishment of this No Discharge Zone is an important step in strengthening the protection of waterways throughout Anne Arundel County,\u201d said Maryland Environment Secretary Horacio Tablada. \u201cMDE is proud to have been part of this collaborative effort toward clean water progress.\u201d
Maryland sought NDZ designation for these waters due to a high concentration of boats, the presence of resources sensitive to boat sewage, a prevalence of water contact activities, impairments for nutrients and sediments, and strong local support for added protection\u200b.
\u201cFinally winning this designation for our county\u2019s rivers is a major victory,\u201d said Anne Arundel County Executive Steuart Pittman. \u201cApplying for this designation in partnership with our watershed protection groups came early in my term in office, and I look forward to celebrating its implementation on July 1.\u201d
\u201cThe NDZ designation will help the city and county close a gap in their efforts to attain their Chesapeake Bay pollution reduction goals, which focus on the reduction of nitrogen and phosphorus,\u201d said Annapolis Deputy City Manager for Resilience and Sustainability Jacqueline Guild. \u201cCurrent on-board treatment systems do not reduce these nutrients that stimulate plant and algae growth, which in turn, leads to less oxygen in the water for aquatic life. The NDZ will also raise awareness among the general public that all vessels must use a pump-out station or pump-out boat to dispose of waste.\u201d
The complete list of waters in the NDZ<\/a> is available online.
A NDZ is an area of water where the discharge of all boat sewage, including waste treated by certified onboard Type I or II marine sanitation devices is prohibited. Discharge of raw or untreated sewage from vessels is already prohibited anywhere within three-miles of the U.S. coast.
Type I and II marine sanitation devices treat waste to set standards and kill pathogens before discharging the remaining effluent overboard. About 90% of recreational boats have installed sewage holding tanks \u2014 Type III marine sanitation devices \u2013 and can empty them at one of more than 350 pumpout stations across the state.
As part of the NDZ application process. DNR and EPA determined that there are adequate pumpout facilities within the area for commercial and recreational vessels. Boats with Type I or II marine sanitation devices can operate in NDZs provided the toilet \u2014 or head \u2014 is disabled.
More information about pumpouts and complying with NDZs in Maryland is available on the DNR website<\/a>. To report an NDZ violation, citizens should call MDE at 410-537-3510 (weekdays) or 866-MDE-GOTO (evenings and weekends). To report an inoperable pumpout station, citizens should email pumpouts.dnr@maryland.gov or call 410-260-8772.<\/p>\n\n\n\n