EAST PROVIDENCE – The East Providence Harbor Department has received a $56,725 R.I. Department of Environmental Management grant to purchase a 23-foot pumpout boat.
“This is the first Pumpout boat to service the Metro Bay area and is the largest grant ever awarded in Rhode Island under the federal Clean Vessel Act,” said Harbormaster S. Bruce Dufresne.
The grant covers 75 percent of the boat’s purchase price, and accounts for nearly 20 percent of the total grant given by the Fish and Wildlife Service to the state. The City of East Providence will cover the rest of the purchase price.
The boat services other boats of similar size and offloads its payload at one of six stations in Narragansett Bay as part of an effort to keep recreational boats from illegally discharging sewage into the Bay. The procedure costs $30 per season (for as many offloadings as are needed), and will be provided from Memorial Day until Columbus Day each year.
The boat was manufactured by Marine Boatbuilders Co. in Warwick.
For more information, call the Harbormaster’s office at (401) 639-8437 or go to www.eastprovidenceri.net/boards/HarborCommission.php.
