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.”