Don’t let your boat relieve itself in Casco Bay

Memorial Day weekend — and for some, the start of boating season — is upon us.

That means folks are getting their boats unwrapped and prepared to hit the water again. It also means the environmental organization Friends of Casco Bay is almost ready to provide low-cost pumpout service to boat owners, traveling up and down the coast to suck the sewage  out of marine toilets in recreational boats.

Sounds lovely, huh?

Friends of Casco Bay have been providing this service for about 18 years now, and if the thought of raw boat sewage makes you cringe a little bit, imagine 136,000 gallons of it.

That’s how much raw sewage the Friends organization has kept out of coastal Maine waterways by doing this pumpout program, in case you were hoping for a succinct visual.

The group will begin offering the service for the season on Tuesday between South Portland and Freeport. The fee is $10 for a 20-gallon tank, they’ll come to any dock or mooring and the boat owner does not need to be present. To make an appointment, boat owners can contact Jim Splude at pumpout@cascobay.org or 776-0136.

Seth Koenig

About Seth Koenig

Seth has nearly a decade of professional journalism experience and writes about the greater Portland region.