When your boat is in the water, no scrubbin’ please

You’re out enjoying another beautiful day on your boat when you begin to notice some scum accumulating just above the waterline on your boat. Of course, we want our boats to be shiny and clean, so naturally one feels the urge to get scrubbin’. It’s already in the water, just add a little bit of soap and “boom”; scum is no more. It’s so easy, but for one thing, it’s illegal, and secondly, it comes at a cost that you might not immediately see.

When washing your boat, it’s important to take it out and away from the lake to avoid runoff of cleaner into our beloved Lake Winnipesaukee. Some cleaning agents present risks to human health as well as the environment. Soaps that run into the lake can increase nutrient pollution, including phosphorus or ammonia, resulting in algae blooms or oxygen depletion. Other cleaning products can be toxic to aquatic organisms and result in increased fish deaths. We all want to be friends to our lake, so it may seem like a safe compromise to buy and use cleaners labeled “natural”, implying that they are environmentally friendly. Unfortunately, “natural” is not the same as “non-toxic”, and there are no federal regulations that set standards for “natural” products.

What creates a larger problem is that cleaning product manufacturers are not required to disclose all ingredients used on their product labels. Those “biodegradable” boat washes may seem like a viable option, but they still cause harm to the various species of plants and fish in our lake.

In both 2009 and 2019, the BoatUS Foundation for Safety & Clean Water tested “green” boat soaps, conducting in-house tests as well as sending the cleaners to laboratory facilities to evaluate their effects on aquatic life. It was discovered that “green”-labeled cleaning products appear to actually be some of the most harmful products tested.

So, what can we do? The most important action we can take is to not wash our boats in the lake. According to the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services “it shall be unlawful for any person or persons to discharge of any sewage or waste [wash water, antifreeze and detergents] to the surface water or groundwater of the state without first obtaining a written permit from the Department of Environmental Services.” All measures should be taken by boat owners to prevent discharges from boat washes to the surface or groundwater; you are required by law to follow proper boat washing procedures. Marinas will provide a boat wash service where the water can be contained and treated. Ask your local marina for more information.

Once your vessel is removed from the lake, you can get to cleaning with a “safer choice” cleaner. The Environmental Protection Agency has created a webpage to help determine the best environmentally-conscious cleaning products, ranking single ingredients in cleaning products on their “safer choices” website. You can explore these cleaners by visiting epa.gov/saferchoice.

In addition to boats, it’s best not to scrub down yourself or a pet in the lake either, although it may sound like fun. As we discovered earlier, those “green” products can include ingredients toxic to Lake Winnipesaukee, which may turn her green. So please, do all your washing away from the lake so we can "Keep Winni Blue."