One thing you may be missing...
You said, "We have skipped the subject of hazardous chlorinated secondary products...."
The ElectroScan/Lectra/San creates hypochlorous acid by charging the ions in salt water with electrical current...a process that only lasts as long as the 2 minute "treatment cycle." When the stimulous--electrical current--is removed, the solution reverts to salt water...so there is no hazardous chlorinated product going into the water.
However, the PuraSan does require the use of added chlorine, but on average, each flush is only 1/2-1 gallon of "sanitized" effluent, so the amount is miniscule...and what little there is, evaporates very quickly (as any swimming pool owner can testify), so it's certainly FAR less damaging the environment than an illegally dumped tankful of waste laced with formaldehyde, gluteraldehyde or quaternary ammonium compounds (the chemicals most commonly used in tank products).
You said, "I'm not saying that there isn't a place for Type 1 systems, but it's silly to pretend they are zero discharge..."
No one is pretending they are. But it's equally silly to pretend that requiring just 5 more boats of every 100...25 in every 500...50 in every 1,000...to abandon treatment and hold instead will have ANY noticeable impact.
However, Raritan's own tests about 10 years ago indicated that 1000 vessels, all equipped with Type I, gathered in the same area for 24, all flushing "normally" for that length of time, would have less negative impact on the surrounding waters than just ONE illegally dumped tank...and regrettably, more tanks are illegally dumped than pumped...as illustrated by this recent informal survey on a powerboat owners site:
Almost always pump out. 62.92%
Almost always use the macerator 19.10%
A healthy mix 10.11%
I am afraid to tell the truth cuz the green police are everywhere! 7.87%
Notice that NO ONE claimed they NEVER dump the tank.
A survey in the late 90s of pumpout use in October on the east coast Intracoastal, when snow birds were headed south in droves (flocks?) asked marinas to keep track of how many boats pumped out in 30 days. The maximum reported number of pumpouts at any marina was 8!
And something no one has yet mentioned here: sewage treatment plant spills. It's a little known fact that more than 100 east coast (primarily in New England) county and municipal treatment plants are exempt from meeting EPA water quality standards--and have been since before there were any marine sanitation laws--because their systems are too old or too small or otherwise unable to do it and they cannot afford the cost to repair/upgrade/expand. I've always considered it to be the ultimate irony that a major spill from a plant in Providence RI on the very day that RI's statewide ND law went into effect closed all the beaches and shellfish beds in that half of Narragansett Bay for a week!
So it seems to me that we'd have MUCH cleaner waters if all boats were required to use treatment devices INSTEAD of holding tanks! :dance:
Btw...thanks for making this a measured REASONED discussion instead of the usual knee-jerk parroting of propaganda that this topic so often turns into!
:dance: