The New London Day • 10/25/2010

Stonington will receive a $43,200 federal grant for the construction of a new pump-out offloading connection and dock at the town’s municipal sewage treatment facility in Stonington Harbor.

The grant, announced Friday by Gov. M. Jodi Rell, is part of $1 million in federal money for 43 pump-out projects in Connecticut that either upgrade or provide new stations to dispose of sewage from vessels.

The grants are administered by the state Department of Environmental Protection and are funded through the federal Clean Vessel Act. The fund is supported by excise taxes on certain fishing and boating equipment and boat fuels. Since 1993, the program has awarded more than $8 million in grants to small marinas, municipalities and nonprofit organizations. Because of this program, sufficient facilities exist so that the entire Connecticut side of Long Island Sound has been designated a No-Discharge Area.