page_title: Personal watercraft
section_title: Emissions
hierarchical_section_title: Personal watercraft / Emissions
caption_attribution_description: Ar over thirteen feet (3.95m) in length, the en:Sea Doo LRV is the largest en:Personal water craft ever mass-produced.
context_page_description: A personal watercraft, also called water scooter, and comically a boatercycle, is a recreational watercraft that the rider sits or stands on, rather than inside of, as in a boat. PWCs have two style categories, first and most popular being a runabout or "sit down" where the rider uses the watercraft mainly sitting down, and the watercraft typically holds two or more people. The second style is a "stand-up", where the rider uses the watercraft standing up. The stand-up styles are built for one rider and are used more for doing tricks, racing, and use in competitions. Both styles have an inboard engine driving a pump-jet that has a screw-shaped impeller to create thrust for propulsion and steering. Most are designed for two or three people, though four-passenger models exist. Many of today's models are built for more extended use and have the fuel capacity to make long cruises, in some cases even beyond 100 miles.
  Personal watercraft are often referred by the trademarked brand names Jet Ski, WaveRunner, or Sea-Doo.
context_section_description: The American PWC industry reached an agreement with the United States Coast Guard in 1999 (see fall, 1999 BSAC Minutes), agreeing to limit the speed of a PWC to 65 mph in a specified test protocol.
  Before 1991, PWC emissions were unregulated in the United States. Many were powered by two-stroke cycle engines, which are smaller and lighter than four-stroke cycle engines but more polluting. Simple two-stroke engines are lubricated on a "total loss" method, mixing lubricating oil with their fuel; they are estimated to create exhaust in excess of 25% of their fuel and oil unburned in addition to the products of incomplete and complete combustion.
  The 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act allowed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to begin regulating all recreational marine engines including PWC, as well as other off-road internal combustion engines. The agency began a dialogue with manufacturers in 1991, resulting in regulations that were enacted in 1996. These regulations, set to phase in between 1998 and 2006, are considered averaging standards, because they allow manufacturers to offset more-polluting engines in their product range by offering other engines that exceed the standard. California and subsequently New York have, in turn, adopted more stringent regulations than the federal standard. Subsequent to 2004 when the maximum emission reductions required by California became effective, the substantial majority of new PWC units sold throughout the United States have met the lower emissions standards established by California.
  To meet these regulations, manufacturers have adopted a variety of improvements, including increased use of four-stroke engines, the use of direct injection for two-strokes, and the use of catalytic converters and other pollution-curbing measures that overall have reduced emissions by approximately 75% compared to pre-regulation models.
  In some areas, such as Lake Tahoe, outboard motors and PWCs are permitted if they meet the 2006 EPA or California Air Resources Board (CARB) 2001 regulations. Some pre-2006 model year PWCs meet this EPA standard, including all four-stroke makes and models and all two-stroke cycle direct-injection (non-carbureted) models.  
  
  Environmental groups such as the Surfrider Foundation and the Bluewater Network claim that more rapid progress could be made, and that the diminishing numbers of pre-1998 watercraft in use continue to emit substantial pollution.
  Against this, industry groups such as the Personal Watercraft Industry Association point out that environmental groups continue to cite pollution levels of pre-regulation watercraft and ignore the improvements made to newer models; and furthermore, that personal watercraft are unfairly singled out when they are no more polluting than other powered boats.
caption: Even the largest PWC, the Sea-Doo LRV, can be easily loaded onto a trailer and transported from one body of water to another.
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