It was a pleasant summer morning when a boat owner (we'll call him Dave) stepped aboard his boat and went through his usual routine: open up the hatches, flip on the engine blower and bilge pump then put the chairs in the cockpit. As he was finishing up his chores, he realized that two uniformed Coast Guard officers were standing on the pier next to his boat.
"Good morning, sir," one greeted him. "Is this your boat?" Replying that it was, Dave had the uneasy feeling that all was not right with the world. "Sir, we're going to have to cite you for violation of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act," the officer said. "If you'll step over here, I'll show you why."
Looking where the officer was pointing, Dave saw that his bilge pump was coughing a few last spurts before shutting off. Still scrupulously polite, the officer said, "As you can see by the film on the water, you've been discharging oil into the water, which is strictly prohibited. Now if I could see the registration papers and some personal identification, please." As he spoke, the other officer produced a Polaroid camera and snapped a few shots of the now-widening, rainbow-hued sheen.
After signing the citation, Dave sat in the cockpit to read the small print, and his heart stopped. The fine was no slap on the wrist. It could be as high as $5,000! Though he hadn't dumped millions of barrels of crude oil in the water like Exxon Valdez, Dave was just as guilty of breaking the federal water pollution laws. In all likelihood, you are too.
Dave's woes stemmed from two separate problems. First, in the process of changing an oil filter, he had dribbled a couple of tablespoons of oil under the engine. Second, he also had a prop shaft that was dripping just enough to produce a couple of inches of water in the bilge during the week that wasn't even enough to activate the automatic bilge pump. When he flipped the bilge pump switch to empty the water, Dave was asking for trouble, and he got it.
Under the federal Water Pollution Control Act passed in 1972, the limit set by the EPA is 15 parts of oil per million parts of liquid (ppm) discharged from your boat, which means that you would need to have more than 500 gallons of water in your bilge (picture this as ten 50-gallon drums) to legally remove just 1 fluid ounce of oil without breaking the law. In addition, each state is allowed to set its own lower requirements. California's is 0 ppm.
When it comes to citations, the Coast Guard and harbor patrols are looking for that iridescent sheen on the water. It is, of course, difficult to keep oil from getting into the bilge of a gas- or diesel-powered boat. Even if you don't have an oil leak (who doesn't?), you may still have "blow-by" oil that exudes from the oil breathers, collects on the bilge surfaces and ends up in the bilge water. Here are some tips for avoiding a citation like Dave's:
1. Keep your engine leak-free. Valve cover and oil pan gaskets are the normal culprits on gasoline engines, and they can usually be replaced inexpensively. You'll need to be careful when you change your oil and filters. Slip a plastic baggie over your oil filter before you unscrew it to catch all the oil that will otherwise spill into the bilge. And remember that you can even drip oil into the bilge if you aren't careful when pulling the dipstick.
2. Provide your own makeshift drip pan. If your bilge doesn't have a pan under the engine to separate any drippings from the bilge water, you'll have to take matters into your own hands. An aluminum baking tray is inexpensive and can be found in sizes to fit under most engines, or you can use a cheap plastic liner for paint roller trays that costs nearly nothing.
3.
Don't focus all your
efforts on the engine and forget the transmission. Transmissions are notorious for oil leaks, which
can be difficult to cure. Rig an oil pan and toss it out when it gets icky. If you're still getting
oil in the bilge, several companies offer oil-absorbent materials that can suck the oil right out
of the bilge water, leaving a liquid that you can pump overboard with no fear. Star brite, for
example, offers an 18-inch-by-18-inch Engine Drip Pad that can be secured under the engine to
absorb up to 3 quarts of petroleum, but which repels water. Star brite also has a Bilge Oil
Absorber about the size of a loaf of bread that can be lowered into the bilge to inhale 2 quarts of
oil. Most marine hardware stores offer these or similar products from 3M, MDR and Biosok in a
variety of pillow, sheet and tube shapes to fit your oil spill needs.
4.
Beware of
so-called "bilge cleaners" that guarantee to turn your bilge into a fresh-smelling rose garden.
Since oil doesn't mix with water, most of these bilge cleaners are designed to emulsify oil and
water into one homogeneous liquid that can be pumped out. Nearly all of the bilge cleaners now
available are labeled as "biodegradable," which means that the product can be consumed by a natural
life form without ill effects.
Unfortunately, just because the bilge cleaner is biodegradable doesn't mean the solution of oil and bilge cleaner is biodegradable. The oil is simply being held in suspension and is just as illegal to pump overboard as it was when it floated on the surface of your bilge water. There are several bacterial bilge cleaners, which may or may not provide a solution. Certain types of bacteria live in water and eat petroleum products, converting them back into water and carbon dioxide. These products provide colonies of the bacteria in a solution that you deposit in your bilge. Developed to handle major oil disasters such as the Exxon Valdez spill, these micro-critters will theoretically gobble up your oil problem.
There may be some downsides to this solution, though, and Star brite (which was considering adding a bacterial bilge cleaner to its line) decided that the possible hazards outweighed the positives. Regardless, you still can't pump the bilge overboard, because the EPA feels that the oil, whether in the critter's tummies or not, is still oil.
Prevention is your best defense against polluting the waters with oily bilge water. And, if you do get oil in your bilge, be sure to remove it before pumping it overboard.