Politics & Government

Southampton Town Gets Two New Pump-Out Boats

Officials say boats will help protect area harbors.

and the town’s bay constable held a press conference Thursday morning at Meschutt Beach in Hampton Bays to announce the acquisition of two new pump-out boats.

The new boats, according to town trustees, were purchased at a cost of approximately $73,000 each through Suffolk County and New York State matching grants.

With the new boats, the town will now operate a fleet of seven, two of which are currently out of service.  

Find out what's happening in Westhampton-Hampton Bayswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Boaters in Southampton waters, including Cold Spring Pond, Old Fort Pond, North Sea, Mill Creek, Sag Harbor, Westhampton Beach and Hampton Bays can call the pump-out boats on Channel 73 between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. daily, and the pump-out boats will come to their location free of charge.

Sr. Bay Constable Ted Sadleir, said boaters do not need to be in the harbor to be pumped out.

Find out what's happening in Westhampton-Hampton Bayswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“They can be out in the bay,” he said, noting that the program costs the town between $150,000 and $160,000 a year.

The town’s pump-out program, which dates to 1995, runs from Memorial Day weekend until October 15 in all the town’s water’s, except for Sag Harbor, where the program continues until November.

Since its inception, Sadlier said the boats have pumped slightly over 126,000 gallons of wastewater from boaters.

Without the program, many boaters would dump their waste into the water.

“The idea of all that waste floating around in our waters is a frightening thought,” said Southampton Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst, during the press conference.  “We could not do this program without the partnership of the county, and we thank them and everyone who has put such importance into the program.”

Among those Throne-Holst thanked is Suffolk County Department of Health Commissioner James Tomarken.

President of the Southampton Board of Trustees Eric Shultz, said “Just the very existence of this program helped us get the no discharge zone for the south shore estuary.  We had to prove that there were a certain number of pump-out facilities in order to apply for this designation, and this program allowed us to do that.”

The no discharge zone was approved through the leadership of Kevin McAllister, executive director of Peconic Baykepper, by the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation in November 2009.  The zone prohibits the release of sewage from boat toilets and holding tanks in more than 110,000 acres of the South Shore Estuary.

Be sure to check back at Patch at 5 p.m. to see video from the press conference announcing the acquisition of the new boats.


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