§ 33-c. Regulating disposal of sewage; littering of waterways. 1. As
used in this section, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

(a) The term "watercraft" means any contrivance used or capable of
being used for navigation upon water whether or not capable of
self-propulsion, except passenger or cargo-carrying vessels subject to
the Quarantine Regulations of the United States Public Health Service
adopted pursuant to Title forty-two of the United States Code.

(b) The term "marina" means any installation which provides any
accommodations or facilities for watercraft, including mooring, docking,
storing, leasing, sale, or servicing of watercraft, located adjacent to
waters of the state.

(c) The term "sewage" means all human body wastes.

(d) The term "litter" means any bottles, glass, crockery, cans, scrap
metal, junk, paper, garbage, rubbish, trash, or similar refuse.

(e) The term "marine toilet" means any toilet on or within any
watercraft, except those that have been permanently sealed and made
inoperative.

(f) The term "waters of this state" means all of the waterways, or
bodies of water located within New York state or that part of any body
of water which is adjacent to New York state over which the state has
territorial jurisdictions on which watercraft may be used or operated.

(g) The term "person" means an individual, partnership, firm,
corporation, association, or other entity.

(h) The term "department" means the state department of environmental
conservation, except as otherwise provided in this section.

(i) The term "marine holding tank" means any container aboard any
vessel that is designed and used for the purpose of collecting and
storing treated or untreated sewage from marine toilets.

(j) The term "pumpout facility" means any device, portable or
permanent, capable of removing sewage from a marine holding tank.

2. (a) No person, whether engaged in commerce or otherwise, shall
place, throw, deposit, or discharge, or cause to be placed, thrown,
deposited, or discharged into the waters of this state, from any
watercraft, marina or mooring, any sewage, or other liquid or solid
materials which render the water unsightly, noxious or otherwise
unwholesome so as to be detrimental to the public health or welfare or
to the enjoyment of the water for recreational purposes.

(b) No person, whether engaged in commerce or otherwise, shall place,
throw, deposit or discharge, or cause to be placed, thrown, deposited,
or discharged, any litter into the waters of this state or upon any
public lands contiguous to and within one hundred feet of such waters or
upon any private lands contiguous to and within one hundred feet of such
waters unless such lands are owned by such person or unless such person
enters or remains with the permission of the owner of record or his
representative or agent.

3. (a) No marine toilet on any watercraft used or operated upon waters
of this state shall be operated so as to discharge any untreated sewage
into said waters directly or indirectly.

(b) No person owning or operating a watercraft with a marine toilet
shall use, or permit the use of, such toilet on the waters of this state
unless the toilet is equipped with facilities that will adequately
treat, hold, incinerate or otherwise handle sewage in a manner that is
capable of preventing water pollution, as required by this section.

(c) Except as provided in subdivisions four and seven of this section,
no container of sewage shall be placed, left, discharged or caused to be
placed, left or discharged in or bordering any waters of this state by
any person at any time.

4. (a) Every marine toilet on watercraft used or operated upon the
waters of this state shall be equipped with a pollution control device,
either for the treatment or holding of sewage, in operating condition,
of a type approved by the state health department, in conformance with
applicable public health standards and rules and regulations; and
approved by the department in conformance with the boating safety
standards and rules and regulations adopted by the department. Pollution
control devices shall be securely affixed to the interior discharge
opening of marine toilets and all sewage passing into or through such
toilets shall pass solely through such treatment facilities.

(b) Sewage passing through a marine toilet equipped with a chlorinator
or chemical treatment facility shall be deemed untreated unless the
effluent meets standards established by the state commissioner of
health.

(c) The disinfecting agent used in the facility shall be of a kind
which when discharged as a part of the effluent is not toxic to humans,
fish or wildlife.

(d) The active ingredient in deodorizers used in marine toilets may
only consist of formaldehyde, enzymes, bacterial cultures or any other
ingredient which would not interfere with the operation of sewage
treatment plants. No zinc or other heavy metal or phenol may be used in
any marine toilet.

5. No marine toilet pollution control device shall be used, sold or
physically offered for sale in this state unless it is of a type which
has officially been approved by the department. The department approval
shall be issued only after approval of such devices by the state
department of health, as required by subdivision four of this section.
Notice of such approval may be required by the department to be
displayed on the pollution control device.

6. The department shall require persons making application for a boat
registration certificate for a watercraft pursuant to section
seventy-one of the navigation law to disclose whether such watercraft
has within or on it a marine toilet, and if so, to certify that such
toilet is equipped with a pollution control device as required by this
section. The department is further empowered to direct that the issuance
of a boat registration certificate or a renewal thereof be withheld if
such device had not been installed as provided in this section.

7. The owner or whoever is lawfully vested with the possession,
management or control of a marina shall be required to provide suitable
trash receptacles or similar devices designed for the depositing of
litter at locations where they can be conveniently utilized by
watercraft users.

8. All marinas that provide pumpout facilities and dump stations for
the handling and disposal of sewage from marine holding tanks and
portable toilets shall do so in a manner that will prevent the pollution
of the surface waters of the state. The facilities for unloading and
disposal of such sewage shall be approved by either the local or the
state health department in accordance with guidelines set forth by the
department in consultation with the department of health. The department
of environmental conservation shall require that municipal sewage
treatment facilities accept such waste originating from marine holding
tanks and portable toilets unless the commissioner determines that such
action would cause an unacceptable threat to human health or the
environment or the operation of a sewage treatment plant.

9. All watercraft located upon waters of this state shall be subject
to boarding and inspection by the department or health department or any
lawfully designated agents or inspectors thereof, for the purpose of
determining whether such watercraft is equipped with approved marina
toilet pollution control facilities operated in compliance herewith.

10. Any municipality within which a vessel waste no-discharge zone has
been designated pursuant to subdivision one of section thirty-three-e of
this article or any municipality adjacent to which a vessel waste
no-discharge zone has been designated pursuant to subdivision one of
section thirty-three-e of this article, may adopt and enforce local
laws, not inconsistent with section thirty-three-e of this article,
prohibiting the discharge of vessel wastes in waters within such
municipality, or in waters adjacent to such municipality to a distance
of one thousand five hundred feet from shore. Nothing in this section
shall preclude the political subdivisions of Nassau and Suffolk counties
from regulating gray water discharge from residential vessels moored on
tidewaters bordering on and lying within the boundaries of Nassau or
Suffolk county.

11. The department is hereby authorized and empowered to make, adopt,
promulgate, amend and repeal such standards and rules and regulations as
are necessary, or convenient for the carrying out of duties and
obligations and powers conferred on the department by this section.

12. A copy of the regulations adopted pursuant to this section and any
of the amendments thereto, shall be filed in the office of the
department, the health department, the water resources commission, and
in the office of the secretary of state. Rules and regulations and
standards shall be published by the department in convenient form.

13. (a) Any person who violates paragraph (b) of subdivision two of
this section, shall be guilty of an offense and upon conviction shall be
punished with a fine of not more than two hundred fifty dollars, or by
imprisonment of not more than sixty days, or by both such fine and
imprisonment; provided, however, that in the event any person violates
this section more than twice during the same calendar year and is
convicted of more than two such violations, the third and each
subsequent violation shall be deemed a misdemeanor.

(b) Any person who violates any other provision of this section or
regulations of the department adopted pursuant hereto shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished with a
fine of not more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment of not
more than sixty days, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

14. Any action taken by the department or the state department of
health pursuant to subdivisions five or six of this section shall be
subject to review by the supreme court in the manner provided by article
seventy-eight of the civil practice law and rules provided that no stay
shall be granted pending the determination of the matter except on
notice to the department and the state department of health and for a
period not exceeding thirty days.

Proceedings to review any action enumerated herein shall be entitled
to a preference.

15. If any court shall find any subdivision or subdivisions of this
section to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, such findings shall
not affect the validity of any sections of this act which can be given
effect.

16. Nothing in this section, shall be deemed to repeal, amend, modify
or alter the provisions of article twelve of the public health law or
the provisions of sections thirty-three-a and thirty-three-b of the
navigation law.