Mont. Code Ann. § 23-2-522

This is the official text of Mont. Code Ann. § 23-2-522, part of Montana’s Code Ann — part of the compiled statutory law of Montana, published by the state as "Code Ann." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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23-2-522 Discharge of waste from vessel prohibited

Official statutory text

23-2-522 . Discharge of waste from vessel prohibited. (1) A person may not discharge or cause, permit, or allow to be discharged any garbage, refuse, waste, or sewage from any vessel into, upon, or near the waters at a stream, river, or lake within the boundaries of the state of Montana.

(2) The department of environmental quality shall adopt rules to protect water quality and aquatic ecosystems by establishing guidelines for the installation of vessel pumpout facilities.

(3) In adopting the rules, the department shall use these definitions:

(a) "Marine sanitation device" means any equipment on board a vessel that is designed to receive, retain, treat, or discharge sewage and also means any process to treat the sewage.

(b) "Vessel terminal" means a private or public shoreside installation on any waters of Montana that provides mooring, docking, berthing, and other facilities for the use of vessels.

(4) The rules must include standards for the construction, operation, and maintenance of vessel pumpout facilities.

(5) This section may not be construed to require the department to install pumpout facilities without prior legislative approval and an appropriation.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.