Boat paint could face new rules
New rules could be on the way for local boaters. Environmental
regulators are in the early stages of a process that could restrict
paints used by most mariners.
Regulators with the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board
are looking for a contractor to study how much metal has found its
way into the waters of Newport Harbor, water board spokesman Kurt
Berchtold said. If the board finds a need to reduce copper levels in
the harbor, mariners may need to find a new way to paint their boats.
The Santa Ana water board sets water-quality rules for Newport
Harbor. Any new rules spurred by the planned study could be
recommended as early as next March for approval next July, Berchtold
said.
In February, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board
approved a policy designed to clean San Diego Bay waters by targeting
copper levels around a marina. Those rules are still awaiting
ultimate approval by federal and state regulators, according to
Lesley Dobalian, an environmental scientist with the San Diego water
board. That process will likely begin sometime this fall.
Water boards do not have authority to ban copper boat paint, but
they can restrict the amount of materials that enter the ocean,
Dobalian said. The boards can’t mandate exactly how boaters and
marina operators follow new rules, though she said the most
reasonable way for mariners to comply with new rules would be to
switch to nontoxic paints. San Diego area regulators have set a
17-year timeline to reduce copper levels in San Diego Bay.
If local regulators follow that lead, boaters may need to find
copper-free paints.
Communications between the Santa Ana Regional Water Quality
Control Board and Newport Beach officials regarding the planned study
have touched on the issue of copper-based boat paints, Harbor
Resources Supervisor Chris Miller said.
At this point, Newport officials would prefer to improve existing
boat-cleaning techniques rather than institute a new set of
regulations for local sailors.
“Let’s take a look at how we’re maintaining our boats and see if
that’s part of the solution,” Miller said.
Water sampling in Newport Bay could begin within the next couple
of months, said Linda Candelaria, a Santa Ana water board
environmental scientist. Candelaria stressed that regulators will not
know how new rules could affect boaters until they learn how much
metal is in Newport Harbor.
“I hate to say this might happen or that might happen,” she said.
“We don’t know. We base our decisions on data.”
Almost all boat paints on the market are copper-based, said Harvey
Wills, owner of Western Marine Marketing, a Costa Mesa company that
represents paint manufacturers.
Copper is used in marine paints because it works as a pesticide to
keep boat hulls clear of algae, barnacles and other organisms. Both
Wills and Dale Ince, Balboa Marine’s general manager, believe that
boaters would be willing to forgo copper paint if alternatives worked
just as well. However, the pair said silicone and epoxy-based paints
currently are less effective and more expensive than copper-based
paints.
“Paints that are environmentally safe haven’t been proven in the
marketplace yet,” Ince said. “It’s definitely a good idea to get away
from it [copper paint], but we don’t have the technology to replace
it.”
Ince said a gallon of one type of epoxy-based paint has a price
tag of about $500. Copper-based paints tend to cost from $250 to $300
per gallon.
Silicon and epoxy-based paints also do not prevent marine
organisms from clinging to vessels, said Leigh Johnson, marine
advisor for the University of California Sea Grant Extension Program.
That means mariners would need to clean their boats more often. She
also said boaters switching from copper-based paint would have to pay
the costs of stripping their crafts to the hull before safer paints
could be applied.
Still, Johnson is confident nontoxic paints can work. In addition
to a cleaner ocean, the potential advantages of alternative paints
include possible long-term savings, Johnson said. Boaters using
copper-based paints tend to repaint every two years. Johnson said a
study of other alternative paints included a sailboat that has gone
seven years without needing new paint.
In Johnson’s assessment, epoxy-based paints are “pretty good for a
typical boater.”
Mark Silvey, chairman of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce
Marine Committee, is skeptical regarding the effectiveness of
nontoxic paints. He thinks any new rules would amount to
overregulation “unless they can prove that it’s really a detriment
and it’s really a problem.”
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