VANCLEAVE — Raw sewage is leaking into the Pascagoula River — at least, that’s the concern raised by the leader of the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources. 

But as state agency staff members split on the scope of the problem, some communities are already taking action to keep their waters clean. 

MDMR officials said houseboats without sewage systems are discharging waste directly into the river. Staffers at the state’s Department of Environmental Quality, however, point to water testing that shows no consistent signs of contamination. 

The Pascagoula River stretches more than 80 miles across coastal Mississippi and collects rainfall and runoff from a 9,600-square-mile area before reaching the Gulf. Its marshes, backwaters and channels are home to fishermen, families and floating houseboats — some operating outside state oversight. 

Sewage in the water: Problem or perception? 

Joe Spraggins, MDMR executive director, first raised the issue publicly during a 2024 meeting of the Mississippi Advisory Commission on Marine Resources. 

“There is a lot of houseboats that have no way to be able to have sanitation on them, and these are all up and down our rivers,” he said at the time. 

This May, he said, “We’re having a lot of sewage leakage into the water. It’s a huge issue.” 

Sewage poses serious health risks. It carries such as E. coli and E. faecalis, both of which indicate fecal contamination and may signal the presence of harmful pathogens. 

MDEQ officials have issued beach advisories in the past when bacteria levels were high. 

Still, routine sampling conducted by environmental quality staff in the Pascagoula River hasn’t shown major concern. 

“Available water quality data does not indicate an issue with E. coli,” an MDEQ spokesperson said in a statement. 

MDEQ Executive Director Chris Wells added: “There may be some instances — individual samples — that may exceed a threshold, but when you look at the overall average, I think that data shows that it’s below any human health contact sort of threshold. 

“On some level, at the end of the day, the question is, ‘What impact does it have?’” he said. 

Wells acknowledged houseboats could be a contributing factor but also pointed to other sources like rain and storm runoff, failing septic tanks and wildlife. He said it’s fair for MDMR officials to act even if hard data isn’t conclusive. 

“If MDMR has a strong enough suspicion that houseboats are contributing enough to this problem to address that … and we suspect that houseboats might be a source of that bacteria, if there’s a solution that can be implemented that might reduce that source, then that makes a lot of sense to me — and I would be supportive of that,” he said. 

According to Mississippi Code Section 49-17-29, houseboats are prohibited from discharging wastewater into rivers or coastal waters — whether it’s treated or not. Waste must be held in tanks and offloaded at approved pump-out stations. 

But for people in houseboat communities, where local systems are in place and self-regulated, that distinction isn’t always clear. 

And without routine inspections or permits, the state isn’t positioned to check whether those systems are working. 

Who’s policing the pollution? 

Finding out who’s responsible for enforcing sewage violations on the Pascagoula River wasn’t easy. 

Reporters from the Roy Howard Community Journalism Center first contacted MDEQ staffers, who referred questions to the U.S. Coast Guard. Coast Guard officials then directed inquiries to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency staff, who ultimately referred reporters back to MDEQ. 

Similar confusion played out across state agencies. MDMR staff, who originally spoke on the problem, pointed to staff at the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, who again deferred to MDEQ. State Health Department officials said their agency was not involved at all. 

After multiple transfers, MDEQ officials confirmed their department’s status as the responsible agency. Still, the reality of enforcement on the river plays out differently than how the law is written.   

“We don’t have patrolmen,” said Wells. “(We) certainly don’t have people on boats patrolling waterways.”  

“An individual houseboat — or any kind of boat — that is up and down a river or any kind of water body, that’s a little bit more of a difficult situation,” he said. 

Instead, MDEQ enforcement depends on complaints and investigations, but Wells said catching violators in the act is difficult. 

“If somebody’s on the river somewhere in a rural area or remote area, the likelihood of us seeing it and being able to take action on it is very slim,” Wells said. 

He explained the agency doesn’t inspect boats or conduct regular checks. It relies on reports from the public and must gather enough evidence to take enforcement action. 

“We want people to do the right thing,” Wells said. “We want to put the word out that they don’t need to be doing it, they shouldn’t be doing it. It’s a violation of law — so don’t do it.” 

Rather than issuing widespread citations, agency staffers encourage boaters to dispose of wastewater legally at existing pump-out stations along the coast. The state provides a public list of approved pump-out stations for boaters without onboard systems. 

Whether people do that, however, is largely a matter of personal responsibility. 

Locals take the lead 

While state officials are split over the scale of the problem, residents at Poticaw Boat Landing in Vancleave have already implemented a solution of their own: installing sanitation systems, setting rules and enforcing them. 

“We do have sewer tanks on our houseboat to keep the water clean. We treat our sewage tanks here,” said Greg Goff, who manages the facility. “A lot of (houseboats) don’t have them elsewhere — which I hope they do get them. It helps keep the water clean.” 

The systems cost about $1,000 to $1,200, and Goff said they’re simple and reliable. 

“It’s not hard at all. It’s a one-time $1,000 payment, and you never put out raw sewage,” he said.

Without the systems, Goff said the impact is visible.  

“You see paper floating in the water. We don’t want that,” he said. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re not going to have that here, and I’m going to make sure of it. 

“You don’t want your kids swimming in that stuff,” Goff added. “It’s nasty. Dirty.” 

Poticaw resident Wake Inabinette, who has lived there 15 years, said his setup mimics a home septic system, with aerators breaking down solids in two tanks before releasing treated water. 

“It’s just gray water, no bacteria,” he said. “(It’s) like keeping a fish tank clean.” 

Even if their community-led approach treats sewage, it doesn’t meet state policy, but Inabinette said the system works. 

“You can’t park a houseboat here unless you have the system,” Inabinette said. “Greg checks that everyone’s system is running.” 

MDEQ officials recognize the good-faith efforts from communities like Poticaw. However, without formal permits for individual boats, there’s no legal framework for approving treatment setups, according to a statement from agency staff. 

“The world doesn’t seem to care,” Inabinette said. “But we do. We start with ourselves.” 

A floating solution 

While enforcement remains a challenge, MDMR officials are now pushing for a more practical fix: a mobile sewage barge that could travel the Pascagoula River, servicing houseboats that don’t have sanitation systems onboard.   

“We want to try to find a way to be able to buy the sanitation part for that and then have some type of way of cleaning it, and so that we can send something up and down the river on a normal basis to be able to clean out these houseboats,” Spraggins said.   

Spraggins said the goal is to reduce the amount of raw sewage reaching Mississippi rivers and ultimately the Mississippi Sound — but no final cost or launch date for the barge has been announced.  

“This will stop a lot of raw sewage going into our rivers — which, in turn, gets down to our Gulf,” he said. 

To raise money for the barge, MDMR staff members are turning to the Governor’s Saltwater Classic, a June 24-25 fishing tournament organized through the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Foundation. 

Although state officials differ on the scope of the issue, MDMR and MDEQ leaders agree on this: Sewage doesn’t belong in the river. 

Some houseboat owners who admitted to dumping sewage in the river pointed out the challenges of getting a large houseboat to those stations and said they likely won’t use the barge if it costs money, showing state systems only work when boaters use them — and enforcement may remain a question mark.