Sailors to Face Fines for Discharging Their Heads into Hub Harbor

Any day now, the U.S. EPA will designate Boston Harbor a "No Discharge Area."

Starting next spring, if the ban is indeed enacted, all boaters, from luxury yachtsters to booze cruisers, must cease the common practice of flushing and/or dumping the contents of their on-board toilets into Boston's watery backyard.

Instead, sailors will just have to hold it until they reach deeper ocean or have their head tanks pumped out at approved wastewater receiving stations. Violators will be fined up to $2,000.

FYI, once the ban is enacted, Boston Harbor will officially be the largest port on the East Coast to prohibit wastewater discharges from boats. Not bad, considering that George Bush gave Gov. Dukakis (and Boston) a national whoopin' with his "Boston Harbor is the 'filthiest harbor in America'" campaign ads back in '88.

Take that, Poppy!

(Image - Boston Harbor 1988, from George Bush's infamous "Harbor" campaign ad.