Los Angeles CA— The Bay Foundation’s (TBF) 12th annual Honey Pot Day program returns for the boating season, highlighting a service especially helpful and safe during coronavirus, while addressing cleaner local waters. The Honey Pot Day program educates boaters on proper sewage disposal in exchange for one complimentary mobile pumpout service, a value up to $40. This runs from July 1 through September 30, with the reminder that mobile pumpout services are a favorable hands-free sewage disposal method, an important benefit during COVID-19. The program is provided across four Southern California harbors Marina del Rey, King Harbor (Redondo Beach), Port of Los Angeles, and Port of Long Beach.
“The pandemic presents a unique opportunity for recreational boaters to familiarize themselves with services they might not have considered utilizing beforehand,” states Victoria Gambale, TBF’s Community Engagement Program Manager. “Honey Pot Day will allow boaters to experience the supreme convenience of mobile pumpout services. These services are boat to boat and require zero contact; a boater doesn’t even have to be at their boat for it to take place. For both the environmental and public health benefits, the Honey Pot Day program is a great tool for LA County boaters to use this summer.”
LA County has a significant amount of recreational boaters, so even a small amount of pollution from a fraction of the boats can cause serious harm to water quality and marine life. Honey Pot Day’s mission is to remove barriers to pumping sewage out responsibly, to ultimately help reduce bacteria levels in LA County’s harbors. Dumping one toilet flush of untreated boat sewage can cause the same environmental impacts as 10,000 flushes from a homeowner’s toilet, once that waste is treated by a municipal sewage treatment plant (San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board, 2009). Through the Program’s brief virtual clean boating quiz, boaters are engaged on the adverse impacts of raw sewage in local waterways, informed on convenient options available to prevent this, and incentivized to try out a mobile pumpout service with the complimentary service.
To date, over 1,200 LA County boaters have been educated about the impacts of discharging sewage directly into waterways and over 34,000 gallons of sewage (the equivalent to 950,000 flushes from a home toilet) were properly disposed of. With the combination of pumpout facilities, mobile pumpout services, the Pumpout Nav app, and educational programs such as Honey Pot Day—all elements of TBF’s work—boaters increase their knowledge and understanding behind proper waste disposal, which directly benefits local water quality.
“Boaters are stewards of the environment and understand the importance of keeping all waste out of the waters in which we recreate,” states Alicia Kunz, Marina Manager at Essex Marina City Club. “The Honey Pot Day Program invites boaters to learn proper clean-boating practices, especially in regards to sewage disposal, incentivizes them to try it out with a free pumpout, and more often than not, encourages them to use the easy service in the future, keeping our waters clean and safe!” states Alicia Kunz.
To sign up for the program, boaters should visit honeypotday.org. Boaters will be directed to review brief educational materials and take an online quiz. For more information on the Honey Pot Day program, contact Georgia Tunioli at gtunioli@santamonicabay.org.
Honey Pot Day is funded by the California State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways’ Clean Vessel Act program and a federal Clean Vessel Act grant through the Sport Fish Restoration Program.
About The Bay Foundation (TBF)
The Bay Foundation (TBF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit environmental group founded in 1990 to restore and enhance the Santa Monica Bay and local coastal waters (from the LA-Ventura county line to the Palos Verdes Peninsula). The Bay Foundation is a partner in the Santa Monica Bay National Estuary Program along with the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission and many other organizations. TBF works collaboratively with a broad group of stakeholders, including government agencies, industry, environmental groups, and community members. TBF engages scientists and conducts research while mentoring student interns and volunteers in conjunction with the Frank R. Seaver College of Science and Engineering through the Coastal Research Institute at Loyola Marymount University. (TBF: www.santamonicabay.org, CRI: lmu.edu/cri)
About DBW
Boating and Waterways is a division of California State Parks. DBW provides safe and convenient public access to California’s waterways and leadership in promoting safe, enjoyable, and environmentally sound recreational boating. (www.dbw.parks.ca.gov)