Los Angeles CA— San Francisco Estuary Partnership (SFEP), in partnership with California State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways and The Bay Foundation (TBF), was awarded the ‘Outstanding Service Award’ for Pumpout Nav app at the States Organization for Boating Access (SOBA) annual national conference in Portsmouth, Virginia. SOBA serves a diverse audience of public boating access stakeholders, with a mission to encourage, promote, and support federal and state programs that provide safe, high-quality, and environmentally-sound public recreational boating access to the waterways of the United States and its territories. To keep increasing the app’s value, on October 20^th the app was updated to offer personal accounts and expanded to include floating restrooms and sewage dump stations. (Click here to download.)

The Pumpout Nav app, a powerful tool in TBF’s Boater Education program ‘toolbox’, has been highlighted at SOBA for the past four consecutive years as a tour de force component to California’s Clean Vessel Act (CVA) Education and Outreach program. The app allows recreational boaters to find the location of the nearest operational pumpout to properly dispose of their boat sewage waste and is designed to empower boaters to report problems they may encounter while attempting to or using a sewage pumpout unit. With Pumpout Nav, boaters are no longer confronted with the challenge of unreliable outdated maps or arriving at an out-of-service pumpout facility. Utilizing SOBA’s national platform, the app has expanded to include Oregon, Washington, and Lake Champlain area of Quebec, New York, and Vermont.
Since its release in 2017, the app has improved in usability and innovative features. In addition to displaying pumpout stations, as of this latest update the app now also includes the location of dump stations and floating restrooms. Boaters with varying sewage management needs now have access, through the app, to the location of these three types of proper sewage disposal resources.
Additionally, users will enjoy a personalized approach to their vessel sewage management with the app’s update. Boaters and other users will be able to create an account, with an option to upload a photo of themselves or their vessel. They will be able to input information about their vessel, log their pumpouts, and create a ‘Favorites’ lists of sewage resources from areas they frequent.

“We’re honored to be part of the partnership receiving SOBA’s award! The Bay Foundation works to give boaters smarter and up to date tools to prevent pollution, especially identifying functional sewage pumpouts,” states Victoria Gambale, TBF’s Community Engagement Program Manager. “Pumpout Nav app is the portal for boaters who want to run clean and preserve our waterways. New features allow the app to be personalized so boaters can use it as a planning tool. This ability enables proactive management of their sewerage holding tank, thereby avoiding emergency pumpouts.”
Pumpout Nav app is funded by the California State Parks Division of Boating and Waterways’ Clean Vessel Act program and a federal Clean Vessel Act grant through the Sport Fish Restoration Program.

The app is available for free download on Android and iOS devices.