Environment

Legislation Would Ban RV Waste Tank Chemicals

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published April 9, 2010 at 2:00 AM PDT

This story was published more than 14 years ago.

A California legislator has proposed a law banning harmful chemicals used in recreational vehicle waste tanks. The proposal comes after efforts failed to get retailers to switch to environmentally-friendly alternatives.

The holding tanks collect the material flushed down RV toilets.

The chemicals help mask the smell but they also disrupt septic systems and harm groundwater when the tanks are emptied at campgrounds.

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Debbie Sipe with the California Association of RV Parks and Campgrounds said environmentally-friendly alternatives work just as well.

"They're healthier for the consumer, they don't have a carcinogenic in them and they're better for the systems and the groundwater," said Sipe.

Sipe sent letters to retailers and distributors of RV holding tank products early last year asking them to carry alternatives.

She said none of the companies acted on her suggestion.

The proposed legislation, AB 1824, would prohibit the use of non-biodegradable toxic chemicals in the toilets or holding tanks of boats and recreational vehicles.

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Specifically, the ban would include holding tank products containing bronopol, dowicil, formaldehyde, glutaraldehyde, paraformaldehyde and para-dichlorobenzene.

The bill proposed by Assemblyman Bill Monning (D-Santa Cruz) is expected to be heard in committee later this month.

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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