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Brooklyn got a visit from some real party poopers over the weekend.
According to the New York Post, workers were going about their business emptying the sewage tank of a 100-foot party yacht on Sunday when an unfortunate "mishap" occurred resulting in 500 gallons of raw sewage getting dumped into Red Hook’s Atlantic Basin. Sounds like these guys really have to work on their aim.
The human waste began to pour out of the Avalon yacht and into Brooklyn’s unfortunately-named Buttermilk Channel at approximately 1pm on Sunday. After all was said and done, enough raw sewage had entered the channel to fill two-and-a-half very questionable hot tubs.
Officials from both the US Coast Guard and the Department of Environmental responded to Sunday’s big dump, which was not just disgusting but also illegal. According to the surprisingly passionate website of the BoatUS Foundation, current sewage regulations state that it is “ILLEGAL to discharge UNTREATED sewage on inland waters and within 3 miles of shore.”
To be fair, the city currently estimates that about 20 billion gallons of fecal water flows into New York’s rivers every year, largely due to NYC’s outdated sewer infrastructure. The so-called combined sewer overflow (CSO) system routes excess sewage into the city’s waterways during rainstorms and rapid snowmelt.
Still, we can’t help but think that straight-up party yacht sewage may be a bit more hazardous.