Boaters can receive free kit after completing educational survey
Solano County, CA – Boaters visiting Lake Berryessa, Sandy Beach County Park, Vallejo Marina, or Suisun City Marina can now receive their free 2021 California Boater Kit from staff interning with Solano Resource Conservation District’s Boater Outreach Program. This years’ boater kits, which are developed and provided by the California State Parks and the California Coastal Commission Boating Clean and Green Boating Program, include oil absorbents and fuel bibs, a West Marine coupon, pamphlets, and other resources about clean and safe boating practices.
Solano Resource Conservation District staff will continue distributing the boater kits primarily on the weekends until Labor Day.
Over the past 13 years, the Boater Outreach Program’s staff have taught more than 67,000 boaters about keeping Lake Berryessa and Solano County waterways clean from oil, fuel, sewage, and marine debris. The program focuses on raising awareness about clean boating practices through an educational survey and by distributing the California boater kits.
The program is also committed to getting eligible boaters to install the oil absorbent from the boater kit in their boat’s bilge compartment. Oil absorbents are designed to absorb oil and repel water, and can be returned for oil recycling curbside in some cities, at a local Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) facility, or at an oil absorbent exchange station located at Lake Berryessa or Sandy Beach Park in Rio Vista.
“It only takes one gallon of motor oil leaked from a boat’s engine to ruin one million gallons of drinking water for about 500,000 Solano County residents,” explained Narcisa Untal, Senior Planner for Solano County Department of Resource Management. “The boater outreach program gives boaters the information and tools they need to protect Solano County’s drinking water and natural resources from pollution.”
According the California State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways, the level of recreational boating activity in California is one of the highest in the country with around 4 million recreational boaters. Given the large number of recreational boats in the state, even a small amount of gasoline or diesel, oil, or sewage pollution from just a fraction of boats can cause serious damage to our natural resources. Boaters can help protect Solano County and statewide water resources from pollution by implementing clean boating practices. The Boater Outreach Program is a partnership between many local and state partners, including Solano County Water Agency, Solano County, the cities of Benicia, Dixon, Fairfield, Rio Vista, Suisun City, Vacaville, and Vallejo, Napa County, California State Parks, California Coastal Commission, and the CalRecycle Used Oil Payment Program. The program is managed and implemented by Solano Resource Conservation District. For more information, including videos and more information on used oil recycling, please visit solanorcd.org/boaters.