Boat basin pump-out system one of the cleanest in nation
COVER STORY
BY PETER B. BRACE INDEPENDENT WRITER
Pull into any one of the 240 slips of the Nantucket Boat Basin and you can plug your boat into all the utilities that island land dwellers can access.

The Independent file Bassett: "We're very proactive; we do it eight hours a day, seven days week."

After the devastating storm surge of the 1991 Halloween No-Name storm pushed Nantucket Harbor's waters high enough to foul all of the boat basin's electrical connections and other utilities with salt water, each slip in the boat basin was refitted.

"Every slip has what we call a power pedestal and in that is a collection of electrical connections depending on what size boat," said Nantucket Boat Basin Manager George Bassett, who added that he provides boat power requirements between 30 and 100 amps. "They all have cable TV and telephone connections and water."

But all of these amenities get far less fanfare than the Boat Basin's exemplary level of commitment to keeping the harbor clean by providing boat holding tank pump-out service for both sewage and grey water.

Along with the electrical, cable television, phone and water lines laid out beneath the piers of the Boat Basin, also leading to the power pedestals at each slip are sewer lines that run to in-ground holding tanks that are automatically pumped into the town's sewer system when each tank reaches a certain level.

"We do slipside service and we're probably the only marina that does that," said Bassett. "When the boat basin was damaged in the

Halloween storm of 1991,

we installed plumbing at each slip so nobody has to move their boat."

When boats need their tanks

pumped out, a call to Bassett's office brings a visit from the Boat Basin's portable pump that travels around the wharves on the back of a golf cart. The pump is hooked up between the boat's holding tanks and the sewer line fixture at the slip.

Most smaller boats, said Bassett, take 10 to 15 minutes for their 50- to 60-gallon tanks to be pumped, while some of the mega yachts with their 600- 800-gallon tanks can take around an hour. Boat captains also have the option of getting pumped out at the basin's fuel dock.

Bassett prides himself and his staff on helping to keep Nantucket Harbor clean. "We have been commended by National Marine Fisheries Service for keeping the cleanest marina," he said.

In 1998, the Nantucket Boat Basin was lauded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, under the Clean Water Act, for executing the most pump-outs of any marina in the United States.

Bassett credits both boat owners' improved attitude toward not dumping their sewage in Nantucket Sound outside of the federal no-discharge zone and the convenience of the Boat Basin's system for the 91-percent cooperation success rate for pump-outs

"It's imperative that this go on and keep going on properly," said Bassett. "We're very proactive; we do it eight

hours a day, seven days week." I