Pump out boats arrive to keep Lake Wylie clean

Two new boats on Lake Wylie aren’t here for show. They have a job to do.

Durran Coley, owner of Tega Cay Marina, Lake Club Marina and Commodore Yacht Club, teamed up about a dozen years ago with South Carolina Department of Natural Resources to provide free sewage pump out services on the lake. On July 14, he welcomed his second pump out boat in a month adding more than 1,000 gallons of holding tank capacity.

“I did it to help clean up the lake,” Coley said. “Everybody’s got to pitch in on this thing, because it’s very important to keep this stuff out of the water.”

These specialized vessels service the entire lake. Coley said he needed to replace his two older boats and increase capacity to keep up with more than 300 pump outs every quarter.

“Right now we’re pumping out all these other marinas,” he said. “Our guy has a regular route.”

The newest boat at 26 feet arrived at Tega Cay Marina and will dock at Lake Club Marina in Rock Hill.

The service is also thanks to Boating Infrastructure Grant and Clean Vessel Act programs, both through SCDNR, which work with marinas to provide pump out services statewide through the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service funds.

“We provide 75 percent of the funding for the boat and then 75 percent for the service,” said Scott Meister, program coordinator.

Federal money, through the state agency, comes from fuel and boating related taxes.

“The boaters are actually paying for the pump out,” Meister said.

State laws allow pump out boat operators to charge $5 per service. Coley decided it was easier to have operators pull up to marinas on a regular basis and use the 50-foot hose to service each boat, rather than schedule appointments and require payment.

“It keeps the boaters from dumping their waste into the lake,” he said, adding sewage spills in recent years have shown the importance of keeping the water as clean as possible.

Meister said while the state helps with pump out costs, local marinas make a significant commitment.

“We’re paying some, but he’s paying some, too,” Meister said.

This story was originally published July 16, 2015 at 5:38 PM with the headline "Pump out boats arrive to keep Lake Wylie clean."