The Indiana Department of Environmental Management is encouraging boaters with on-board restroom facilities to be environmentally conscious and empty their waste holding tanks into one of Porter County’s eight marina pumpout stations.

Marine pumpout station do exactly what their name suggests, IDEM said in a statement released Tuesday. “They pump the waste from a boat’s holding tank to a commercial waste hauler or directly into the city sewer system. Pumpout stations are located at most public marinas throughout the state and are equipped with universal boat fittings.”

“As the number of recreational boaters increases,” IDEM noted, “the threat of polluting Indiana’s waters with raw human sewage increases as well. Raw or poorly treated sewage dumped in ditches, creeks, streams, rivers, and lakes can spread disease, increase E. coli bacteria levels, and lower oxygen levels in water, creating a health hazard as well as an aquatic health hazard for fish and other animals.”

In Michigan City pumpout stations are located at B & E Marina, the Michigan City Port Authority, and Trail Creek Marina, IDEM said. In Portage, at Lefty’s Coho Landing, the Marquette Yacht Club, the Miller Chapter of the Izaak Walton League, the Portage Public Marina, and South Shore Marina.

For a map of Indiana’s other 35 marina pumpout stations, visit the IDEM website at

http://www.IN.gov/idem/water/fasb/opersect/cva/index.html

Posted 7/2/2003