The timing of the designation, hoped for this time a year ago, is still relevant as boaters prepare to ramp up for the season.

Alderman Susan Collins, one of several elected officials who campaigned on the importance of water quality, said, "It is our first step at Wrightsville Beach to encourage and educate people to be responsible boaters. This No Discharge Zone shows the determination of Wrightsville Beach town officials and staff, working with many others, to make progress."

Word of the designation reached town hall on Monday when the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR) notified officials that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had upheld its request for the zoning that will prohibit the discharge of sewage of any kind, including chemically treated sewage, from boats into the county’s coastal waterways. Prior to receiving the designation, it was legal for boat operators to dispose chemically treated waste from an approved marine sanitary device into coastal waters.

The designation alone is not enough for local stewards of the town’s water quality.

"Testing waterways, with high bacteria levels, needs our immediate attention to prepare for the summer of 2010," Collins said. She hopes to address the enforcement of the designation at the board of alderman’s rescheduled board retreat on Saturday, Feb. 27.

The NDZ will extend three nautical miles into the Atlantic Ocean along the entire coastline of New Hanover County, including the Cape Fear River to its northern intersection with Pender County and southern intersection with Brunswick County, the Intracoastal Waterway, Motts Channel, Banks Channel, Futch Creek, Pages Creek, Howe Creek, Bradley Creek, Hewlett’s Creek, Whiskey Creek, Snow’s Cut and unnamed tributaries and tidal creeks.

All of the nearly 14,000 New Hanover County registered boat owners reflected in an August 2008 survey, as well as an estimated 180 per month transient boat operators, will now be required to hold waste on board, and then to pumpout their waste at one of 11 designated marina pumpout stations, two within seven nautical miles of Wilmington, three in Wrightsville Beach, which are located Wrightsville Beach Marina, Sea Path Yacht Club and the Bridge Tender Marina.

The vessel pumpout facilities either discharge the waste into state-approved and regulated septic tanks, on-site treatment plants or holding tanks for transport to an off-site sewage treatment plant.

The lengthy process of approval required the endorsement of the Town of Wrightsville Beach, which initiated the application, New Hanover County, NCDENR and Governor Beverly Perdue before the application could be passed onto the EPA where upon review it was posted on the EPA’s Federal Register for public comments. One comment, in favor of the designation, was received.

The new designation takes effect immediately.