Case Studies

Fishing Boat

Eco Barge

Any vessel operating in United States or Canadian waters that includes either an onboard toilet, kitchen or laundry is required to have a marine sanitation device. Usually this takes the form of a holding tank which acts much like a septic tank. At some harbours there are facilities where the wastewater can be pumped off to a second holding tank onto a barge (see middle picture to the left). Many moorage facilities have no provision for shore based disposal of the effluent, a more effective solution is to treat the sewage directly so it can then be pumped directly into an ocean or lake. The Go Green marine division is able to offer water treatment systems that are can handle anything from a single toilet (see picture 4 to the left) up to a luxury floating hotel. The effluent quality is so high that our systems have been approved by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans for use in boats, floating hotels and even at a floating fishing camp (see marine tank system at the bottom of the page).

The present law under the Canada Shipping Act does not provide for any specific effluent quality standards, but this will change when proposed legislation take affect in 2006. It is expected that standards for fecal coliform, total suspended solids, biological oxygen demand and total chlorine will be established. Our experience with currently installed systems is such that Go Green marine sanitation devices will easily meet and exceed the new standards, as well as providing for regular maintenance and monitoring. In the United States the approval of marine sanitation devices is done by the coast guard under federal laws, which may be superceded by tougher state laws. In both countries there are specific regulations for certain protected lakes where no discharge is permitted, and regulations covering the joint waters of the Great Lakes system.

Please visit the contact us page if you would like a quote or are unsure of the regulations in your area. Click on any of the photos at the left to read more about specific installations. For a more detailed explanation of marine regulations, click the underlined link.