No More Boating Pollution Allowed in NYC’s Jamaica Bay With New Environmental Law

In an effort to improve the water quality around New York City’s Jamaica Bay, a multi-agency decision has designated the majority of the bay as a “no discharge zone,” which bans boats from discharging sewage into the bay.

No Discharge Zone Map - Jamaica Bay, NY. Image courtesy of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The new agreement between the city, the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency bans all boats from discharging sewage into area of 20,000 acres of open water.

The area has an expanse of facilities for boats to pump out their sewage, and boaters must now dispose of their sewage at specially-designated pump-out stations. The Clean Vessel Assistance Program (CVAP) has provided both a map of all the CVAP-funded pump-out locations, as well as a spreadsheet list of operational pump-out facilities by county.

Specifically, the no discharge zone encompasses 17,177 acres of open water, and 2,695 acres of upland islands and salt marshes in Brooklyn and Queens.

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