The Oslofjord may be banned from discharging boat sewage – NRK Vestfold and Telemark – Local news, TV and radio

– There are not enough emptying stations. The capacity is not close.

Boat owner Kjetil Stordalen in Porsgrunn is upset that a ban may come before an expanded emptying system is in place.

He estimates that a station can take away only three boats per hour.

With a thousand boats to empty the septic tank, he envisions long queues.

– I fear many will drive out and still empty. They might think that this little splash here doesn’t matter.

– Supports a ban

A little further out in the fjord, Tor Helge Næss is polishing his boat “Sirocco”. He is already emptying the septic tank from it at the emptying stations.

He supports a ban.

– It is disgusting when people empty septic tanks into the sea, especially in the inner Oslofjord. You can see a brown-white stripe after the boat.

He still does not think it will be easy to check whether people comply with a possible ban.

Must prevent growth and siltation

As the rules are now, it is legal discharge sewage from smtobtoter right out in sjøa pto long btoten is more than 300 meters from land.

But already on 1 July i tor may be banned in the Oslofjord.

Mtoeasy is to reduce emissions of, among other things, phosphorus and nitrogen.

Too much of these nutrients can do that open air areas are growing again. It can also lead to algae blooms which can reduce visibility in the water.

Director of Communications in the Norwegian Maritime Directorate, Dag Inge Aarhus, says many people are concerned about how this should take place in practice.

– Part of the input concerns the lack of infrastructure and emptying stations to possibly handle the sewage from leisure boats. Then there is also some input that there is a short deadline before a possible ban.

By the end of April, the Norwegian Maritime Directorate must send the responses from the consultation to the Ministry of Climate and the Environment, which will decide the matter.

In Sweden, there has been a ban on dot emptying for nine years already.

– Can cost NOK 10,000 to rebuild

Tony Eriksen has been repairing boats for 30 years. He believes that many boats from before 1990 will have to be rebuilt if there is a ban.

– It can quickly cost NOK 10,000 to rebuild an old boat to empty the septic tank.

Eriksen says boat traffic in the summer months is high, and that weather, wind and current conditions can quickly make dumping boat sewage a problem.

– It is no fun when the children go swimming and there is boat sewage floating in the water.

He is afraid that many will still dump regardless of the ban.

– Symbol politics

Editor for Båtmagasinet, Ole Henrik Nissen-Lie, is in favor of anything that can improve the environment in the Oslofjord, and is not against a ban.

He still believes that it is far more important to prevent run-off from agriculture and clean sewage from households.

– I am afraid this could become more of a symbolic policy if the whole problem is to be linked to the boats that are out in the summer.

A lot of rainfall last autumn meant that Oslo municipality released untreated sewage into streams, rivers and the fjord to prevent it ending up in basements and car parks.

– Then it only took a couple of days before the authorities said it was okay to swim again. These are much larger quantities than what boats release into the Oslo Fjord during one season.

44 emptying stations in the Oslofjord

In autumn 2022, according to an overview from the Norwegian Environment Agency, there were 42 emptying facilities for boat septic tanks around the Oslofjord, and that this probably increased to 44 the following summer.

Senior advisor in the Norwegian Environment Agency, Roald Lund Fleiner, says they do not have the status of the reception facilities in this area today, but have reason to believe that they are still available.

– We assume that a ban will be able to contribute to further establishment of reception facilities in the area.

– The fjord does not benefit from large quantities of boat septic tanks

Truls Gulowsen, leader of the Nature Conservation Association, believes that it is easier to get fishing stopped in the Inner Oslofjord quickly than that small boats have to be rebuilt in order to empty septic tanks.

But as part of a whole, this is also important, he believes.

– The fjord does not benefit from large quantities of boat septic tank being released every summer.

He says that preventing municipal sewage discharges, run-off from over-fertilisation in agriculture and stopping all fishing will have a much greater effect.

But Gulowsen still does not agree that the quantities are as small as the boaters would like them to be.

– More than 100,000 small boats in the Oslo Fjord add up to a lot. It may feel trivial for each individual boat, but it is good to prevent all unnecessary pollution.