The General Permit for Discharges from Marinas, and all associated guidance and forms, are available on the
COLLECT AND TEST: Boat bottom washing must take place over some type of containment (portable mat, permanent pad) and be filtered. IF the marina discharges the water ground or surface waters of the state, samples must be collected and
tested by a lab twice between September and December 31 and twice in the spring.
MEET LIMITS TO DISCHARGE THE WATER: Limits on Total Suspended Solids (50 mg/L) and Oil and Grease (15 mg/l) took effect March 1, 2013. Amounts in wash water must be below these limits to be discharged to ground or surface waters.
REPORT TEST RESULTS TO MDE: Marinas must transfer the lab testing results to a "Discharge Monitoring Report" (DMR). DMRs must be postmarked to MD Dept. of the Environment by January 28th and July 28 in the summer. READ PAGE 24 OF THE PERMIT for instructions on where to send the DMR. (DMRs were provided by MDE when each marina was first covered by this Discharge Permit.)
PLAN TO END ALL DISCHARGE BY MARCH 1, 2015:
Boatyards and marinas should prepare to cease discharging the water from washing boat bottoms by February 2015. New limits for the amount of copper, zinc, and lead allowed in the discharge take effect March 1, 2015. Read PAGE 15 of the Permit.
NOTIFY: Inform the MD Department of the Environment when the discharge of boat wash water ceases. Once acknowledged by MDE, testing and DMRs are no longer required! Contact Paul Hlavinka at 410-537-3631 or [email protected] or for more information. (For those who knew Ed Gertler, he has retired from State service after 43 years.)
UNDERSTAND THE PENALTIES:
Penalties for not complying with the Permit, which is regulated by the Federal Clean Water Act, start at $2,500 per violation, per day and go up to $1,000,000 and jail time.