The federal Clean Water Act authorizes the designation of “no discharge zones” (NDZs) for waters deserving of greater environmental protection. In a NDZ, all vessels are prohibited from discharging sewage, whether treated or not.

Hudson Riverkeeper Alex Matthiessen (far left) joins EPA in announcing the Hudson's new NDZ (photo credit: EPA)

Oct 9, 2003: EPA Approved No Discharge Zone, Ending Boat Sewage Discharges into Hudson

On October 9, Hudson Riverkeeper Alex Matthiessen joined EPA Regional Administrator Jane Kenny and other officials to announce the establishment of a 153-mile “No Discharge Zone” in the Hudson River. (Read the full press release; see link in right hand column.) From the Battery in New York City to the Troy Dam, boats will be prohibited from releasing treated or untreated sewage, thereby eliminating a source of bacterial and chemical contamination in the river. “Thanks to cooperation between EPA, Governor Pataki, and Riverkeeper, we have taken another critical step in the remarkable recovery of the Hudson River," said Matthiessen. “This law recognizes that it is unacceptable to dump human waste and chemicals from marine toilets into our American Heritage River.” The announcement caps Riverkeeper’s successful, multi-year campaign to establish the Hudson River No Discharge Zone (NDZ). Read our comments to EPA in support of the NDZ and EPA’s final determination (see right hand column.)

How The Hudson River No Discharge Zone Was Designated

In 1992, New York State petitioned EPA to designated two portions of the Hudson River as NDZs due to the presence of drinking water intakes in which the discharge of sewage from vessels would be prohibited, whether treated or not. In 1995, EPA still hadn’t acted on NYS’s petition and Riverkeeper filed suit to force EPA to act. As a result of our lawsuit, in December 1995, EPA designated two “drinking water intake zones”: one NDZ is approximately 60 miles long from Roseton to Houghtaling Island; the other is an 8 mile-stretch above the Troy dam. As a result, for the last eight years, all vessels have been prohibited from discharging sewage in approximately 40% of the navigable Hudson.

In April 1999, pursuant to the federal Clean Water Act and a state law (the Hudson River Marine Sanitation Act), New York State designated the entire navigable Hudson as a NDZ, and petitioned the U.S. EPA for a determination that marine pump-out facilities are reasonably available. The NDZ did not take effect, however, until EPA made the requested determination. (New Jersey also made a similar request to EPA for its portion of the Hudson River.)

In September 2000, EPA made a tentative affirmative determination that adequate facilities for the safe and sanitary removal and treatment of sewage from all vessels are reasonably available for the Hudson River, and published that determination in the Federal Register. EPA provided and then extended a public comment period, which expired in December 2000.

After receiving public comment and considering the issue over an extended period, EPA on October 9, 2003, made the final determination under Clean Water Act section 312 that adequate pumpout facilities do exist on the Hudson, thereby establishing the NDZ.