Seventeen local marinas and municipalities are among recipients of state grants to operate and expand marine sewage pumpout facilities, the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced Wednesday.  

DEEP also announced that during the 2015 boating season, stationary pumpout facilities and pumpout vessels removed a record level of more than 1.2 million gallons of marine sewage from vessels in Long Island Sound and Candlewood Lake.

The amount of sewage removed is nearly double the amount removed five years ago. In 2010, 619,735 gallons were removed and sent to treatment plants by pumpout facilities; in 2014, 993,645 gallons were removed.

For the 2016 boating season, 48 marine facilities statewide will receive a total of $1.12 million in federal grant funds under DEEP’s Clean Vessel Act Program, which is designed to improve water quality in navigable waterways across the state.

Eleven of the recipients will receive funding for the construction of new or replacement pumpout equipment.

The remaining grants will fund operation and maintenance of land-based pumpouts and mobile pumpout boats.

Funding for the program is made available through the Federal Sport Fishing Restoration and Boating Trust Fund, supported by a federal tax on certain fishing and boating equipment, import duties on boats and through boat fuels.

Each participating marine facility provides 25 percent of the cost of each project.

Local recipients are:

• Town of Essex, $93,499 for operation and maintenance of three pumpout vessels that will serve Chester, Deep River, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Old Lyme and Old Saybrook.

• Shrink the Boat, $127,083 for operation and maintenance of four pumpout vessels that will serve Stonington, Groton, New London, Fishers Island, Noank and Groton Long Point.

• Save the River/Save the Hills, $23,700 for operation and maintenance of one pumpout vessel that will serve Waterford and East Lyme.

• Town of Westerly, $60,487 for operation and maintenance of two pumpout vessels that will serve Stonington and Westerly.

• Crocker’s Boatyard in New London, $12,305 for upgrade of an existing stationary facility and operation and maintenance of a stationary facility and one dump station.

• Noank Village Boatyard, $7,650 for upgrade of an existing plumbing infrastructure and its operation and maintenance.

• DEEP Marine Headquarters in Old Lyme, $28,440 for operation and maintenance of one stationary facility.

• City of Groton, $19,155 for operation and maintenance of one stationary facility.

• Mystic River Properties (Brewer Yacht Yard at Mystic), $3,993 for operation and maintenance of one stationary facility.

• Mystic River Marina, $2,887 for operation and maintenance of two stationary facilities.

• Mystic Shipyard and Mystic Shipyard East, $9,075 for operation and maintenance of two stationary facilities.

• City of New London, $10,349 for operation and maintenance of stationary cart-style facility at City Pier.

• Niantic Dockominium Association, $3,750 for operation and maintenance of one stationary facility.

• Port Niantic, $14,777 for operation and maintenance of one portable facility.

• Shennecossett Yacht Club, $1,291 for operation and maintenance of one stationary facility with vacuum system.

• Town of Stonington, $1,286 for one pumpout vessel offloading station at the Water Pollution Control Authority.

• Thamesport Marina in New London, $4,987 for operation and maintenance of one pumpout facility.

For information on the program, visit: www.ct.gov/deep/boating or contact Kate Hughes Brown, program coordinator, at (860) 447-4340 or kate.brown@ct.gov.