There are specific regulations for a marine sanitation device that have been issued by the Environmental Protection Agency. In January of 1976, the EPA set forth rules that apply to the performance of marine sanitation devices. These applied to all boats on which toilets had been already installed, but did not mean that you had to install one if your boat did not already have one.

The term marine sanitation device or MSD refers to any equipment on a boat that receives, treats, holds, or discharges any human sewage. It doesnt include portable toilets, which are the ones you can just carry off of a boat. Although most states and local authorities had set their own rules and regulations regarding use of a marine sanitation device, once the EPAs rules went into effect, boats became exempt from those local marine sanitation device regulations. There was one exception, however, and that was that state and local authorities could completely prohibit any discharge of all vessels in some or all of the states waters.

The state or local government would only have had to provide a written application to the Environmental Protection Agency to receive confirmation that adequate marine sanitation device stations were available in that area. In these waters, a marine sanitation device was mandatory to prevent any leakage or discharge into the waters.

After the effective date of the regulations (or the date of compliance for those of vessels which comply early), vessels are exempt from state and local regulation of MSDs with one exception. A state may completely prohibit the discharge from all vessels of any sewage, whether treated or not, into some or all of the waters within such state by making a written application to the Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency, and by receiving the Administrators affirmative determination that adequate facilities for the safe and sanitary removal and treatment of sewage from all vessels are reasonably available for such waters to which the prohibition would apply.

In such waters, flow through devices must be secured to prevent any discharge to the receiving waters. The standards of performance, definitions of new and existing vessels, and the timetable for early and regular compliance are set forth on the reverse side.

Other things set forth about marine sanitation devices are that first of all, all marine sanitation devices have to be Coast Guard certified. It depends on the available pump out stations that are available in your boating area what kind of marine sanitation equipment you should buy. Type I and Type II varieties treat the waste and then discharges it into the water. Type III devices retain the waste onboard or treat it without discharging it into the water. Just remember, when it comes to marine sanitation devices, discharging of any kind overboard is illegal!