The federal government may designate the coastal waters of Kennebunkport, Kennebunk and Wells as "No Discharge Areas," according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The state has officially requested the designation, and the EPA will accept comments on the proposal until Jan. 12.

To win no discharge designation for any area, the state must show there are enough pumpout facilities where boaters can empty their sewage holding tanks properly instead of discharging them into the ocean. The area under consideration has an estimated 537 boats, including 195 large enough to have a toilet on board, and five pumpout facilities, according to the EPA.

The proposed no discharge area includes popular tourist destinations as well as the Wells National Estuarine Research Center and the Rachel Carson National Wildlife refuge. The area includes nearly 20,000 acres of salt marshes and more than 670 acres of essential habitat for the federally endangered piping plover and least tern.

The only Maine area designated as a federal no discharge zone is Casco Bay. Other no discharge areas in New England include all state marine waters of Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, several harbors and bays along the Massachusetts coast and Lake Champlain and Lake Memphremagog, parts of which are in Vermont.

For more information on no discharge areas in New England go to epa.gov/ne/eco/nodiscrg/index.html