Thirteen years after starting a pump-out boat on the Niantic River, Fred Grimsey is “tired of poopy jokes.”

But his enthusiasm hasn’t waned for keeping the state’s waters cleaner by giving boaters free, easy access to equipment that removes raw sewage from their boats.

“Every year we pump out more gallons of sewage,” said Grimsey, the Waterford resident who serves as president of Save the River-Save the Hills, a group that focuses on preservation of the Niantic River and Oswegatchie Hills. “We pumped out 16,000 gallons in 2016. That’s 16,000 gallons of sewage that aren’t going into the river or Long Island Sound.”

Grimsey is among more than 20 local marina owners, yacht clubs, municipalities and nonprofit group leaders who learned Thursday they will be receiving federal grants to run their pump-out programs for the upcoming boating season. The state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection announced that $1.23 million in grants will be awarded to operate and improve pump-out facilities on the Sound and in Candlewood Lake, including almost $500,000 for equipment and staff keeping the waters of lower Connecticut River and eastern Sound clean. That includes stationary vacuums at marinas, pump-out boats that pull up alongside anchored vessels, and pump-out carts situated on floating docks. The grants cover 75 percent of the costs of running the various facilities.

“The whole purpose is to keep the Thames River clean, keep Long Island Sound clean and not charge the public; otherwise they might not use it,” said Elizabeth Nocera, grants manager for New London, which will receive an $11,777 grant to run a pump-out cart at the floating docks on City Pier this summer. “This is a good little grant that really makes doing the right thing easy.”

The city first received the grant in 2014, she said. Last year, it removed 54,047 gallons of untreated waste from boats, sending it through a sewer line at the pier to the city’s treatment plant.

While the future of many federal grants for environmental programs is uncertain, given the deep cuts proposed for the Environmental Protection Agency in President Trump’s fiscal 2018 budget plan, the pump-out program looks to be secure at least through 2021, said Eleanor Mariani, director of the boating division of DEEP. The grant program is run not by the EPA but by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, with funds coming from a percentage of the taxes paid on boat fuel, trolling motors, imported boats and fishing gear rather than the federal budget.

“It’s a user-pay, user-benefit program,” she said.

This year’s total grant to the state is slightly higher than last year’s amount. Over the last seven years, the program has enabled the removal of increasing amounts of sewage from the state’s waters as more boaters have gotten into the habit of using one of the pump-out facilities rather than discharging raw sewage directly overboard, as was once the common practice. In 2016, a total of 1.267 million gallons of sewage were removed by the pump-out program, compared to 619,735 gallons removed in 2010.

“Every year we’re removing more and more wastewater,” she said.

Ray Valentini, operations manager for the Groton City water and sewer department, said the city has received a pump-out grant for about 10 years. It operates a stationary facility at the sewage treatment plant on the Thames River, where large boats pull up to discharge. This year’s grant of $19,045 covers about 75 percent of the cost of operating and staffing the equipment, he said, with the city paying the remainder.

Grimsey said the $24,191 grant to Save the River-Save the Hills is supplemented with funding from East Lyme and Waterford and a small Pfizer grant. His program, “the oldest pumpout boat on the Connecticut coast,” provides economical, tangible benefits to the towns and everyone who uses the river, he said.

Recipients of pump-out grants in southeastern Connecticut include:

• Town of Essex, $90,027 for operation and maintenance of three pump-out vessels that service the Connecticut River in Chester, Deep River, Essex, Haddam, Lyme, Old Lyme and Old Saybrook.

• Save the River-Save the Hills, $24,191 for operation and maintenance of one pump-out vessel that services East Lyme and Waterford.

• Shrink the Boat LLC of Groton, $134,584 for operation and maintenance of four pump-out vessels that service Stonington, Groton, New London, Fisher’s Island, Noank and Groton Long Point.

• Marina at American Wharf, Norwich, $19,112 for operation and maintenance of one stationary facility and one pump-out boat for Norwich.

• Town of Westerly, $50,981 for operation and maintenance of two pump-out boats that service Stonington and Westerly.

• Brewer Ferry Point Marina, Old Saybrook, $13,255 for replacement, operation and maintenance of a stationary facility.

• City of Groton, $19,045 for replacement, operation and maintenance of a stationary facility.

• Crocker’s Boatyard, New London, $13,001 for operation and maintenance of a stationary facility.

• DEEP Marine Headquarters, Old Lyme, $16,888 for operation and maintenance of stationary facility.

• Brewer Yacht Yard, Mystic, $4,293 for operation and maintenance of stationary facility.

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

• Mystic Shipyard and Mystic Shipyard East, $8,850 for operation and maintenance of two stationary facilities.

• City of New London, $11,777 for operation and maintenance of cart-style facility at City Pier.

• Niantic Dockominium Association, $2,000 for operation and maintenance of stationary facility.

• Noank Village Boatyard, $3,273 for operation and maintenance of two stationary facilities.

• Norwest Marine, Stonington, $7,725 for operation and maintenance of stationary facility.

• Port Niantic, $2,330 for operation and maintenance of portable facilty.

• Brewer Dauntless Shipyard & Marina, Essex, $19,202 for operation and maintenance of two stationary facilities and one portable facility.

• Saybrook Point Marina, Old Saybrook, $8,607 for operation of four stationary facilities with vacuum system.

• Shennecossett Yacht Club, Groton, $2,684 for operation and maintenance of a stationary facility.

• S&S Marine, Old Saybrook, $5,054 for operation and maintenance of a portable facility.

• Town of Stonington, $2,332 for operation and maintenance of a pump-out vessel off-loading station at the Water Pollution Control Authority plant.

• Thamesport Marina, New London, $3,186 for operation and maintenance of a stationary facility.

j.benson@theday.com