Texas Water Code 26.044 – Disposal of Boat Sewage
(a) In this section:
(1) “Boat” means any vessel or other watercraft, whether moved by oars, paddles, sails, or other power mechanism, inboard or outboard, or any other vessel or structure floating on surface water in the state, whether or not capable of self-locomotion, including but not limited to cabin cruisers, houseboats, barges, marinas, and similar floating objects. The term does not include a vessel subject to inspection under 46 U.S.C. § 3301.
(2) “Boat pump-out station” means any private or public shoreside, mobile, or floating installation either independent of or in addition to an organized waste collection, treatment, and disposal system used to receive boat sewage.
(3) “Shoreside, mobile, or floating installation” means marinas and other installations servicing boats on surface water in the state.
(4) “Surface water in the state” means all lakes, bays, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes, inlets, canals, the Gulf of Mexico out three nautical miles into the Gulf, and all other bodies of surface water, natural or artificial, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, navigable or nonnavigable, and including the beds and banks of all watercourses and bodies of surface water, that are wholly or partially inside or bordering the state or inside the jurisdiction of the state, except waters beyond three nautical miles of any shore in the state.
(b) The commission shall issue rules concerning the disposal of sewage from boats located or operated on surface water in the state. The rules of the commission shall include provisions for the establishment of standards for sewage disposal devices, the certification of sewage disposal devices, including shoreside and mobile boat pump-out stations, and the visible and conspicuous display of evidence of certification of sewage disposal devices on each boat equipped with such device and on each shoreside and mobile pump-out device.
Terms Used In Texas Water Code 26.044
- Commission: means the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission. See Texas Water Code 26.001
- Disposal system: means any system for disposing of waste, including sewer systems and treatment facilities. See Texas Water Code 26.001
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Executive director: means the executive director of the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission. See Texas Water Code 26.001
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Sewage: means waterborne human waste and waste from domestic activities, such as washing, bathing, and food preparation. See Texas Water Code 26.001
- water in the state: means groundwater, percolating or otherwise, lakes, bays, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, wetlands, marshes, inlets, canals, the Gulf of Mexico, inside the territorial limits of the state, and all other bodies of surface water, natural or artificial, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, navigable or nonnavigable, and including the beds and banks of all watercourses and bodies of surface water, that are wholly or partially inside or bordering the state or inside the jurisdiction of the state. See Texas Water Code 26.001
(c) The commission may delegate the administration and performance of the certification function to the executive director or to another governmental entity. The commission or delegated authority shall collect the following fees from applicants for certification: