September 17, 2009
A Step Toward a Better Solution
This treatment system filters ballast water and then zaps it with UV light to kill remaining organisms. It underwent testing at the Maritime Environmental Resource Center in March 2009.
One thing I’ve learned lately is that ballast water tanks that ships use for stability can cause big headaches. For one thing, when filled with water they can act like an aquarium for all kinds of critters and carry them across oceans. Those species can set up shop in a whole new spot once they get dumped overboard at the next port of call. For another thing, swapping ballast water in mid-ocean — the technique required by the U.S. and many other governments as a way to get rid of unwanted hitchhikers — can be dangerous. One freighter literally flipped on its side when a mid-ocean ballast water exchange went wrong.
I wrote about all this in an article for Chesapeake Quarterly last June, where I noted that many were calling for a change in approach to better protect ecosystems from invasive species. Now the beginnings of change have come.
On August 28th, 2009, the Coast Guard published proposed rules that include standards for treating — not exchanging — ballast water. This opens the door for installing systems on board ships — things like filters, chemicals, UV rays, etc. — that kill organisms and eliminate the need for exchange.
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) created standards for treatment in 2004, and technology companies have been busy developing systems to meet them, often borrowing ideas from the wastewater treatment field. But until now, the U.S. did not recognize treatment as a viable option. Ships were stuck spending time and manpower on exchange.
The Coast Guard’s new rules would change that.
Under the proposed regulations, all new ships built after January 1, 2012, must include treatment systems that meet standards regarding the number of living organisms allowed in discharged ballast water. The standards mirror the ones created by the IMO in 2004. Compliance on existing ships and those built before 2012 depends on their ballast capacity, with all ships using treatment systems by 2016. That’s Phase One.
Phase Two would require ships to comply with a standard that is about 1,000 times stricter, as of 2016.
Mario Tamburri, director of the Maritime Environmental Resource Center (MERC) in Baltimore, Maryland, calls the proposed rulemaking “a reasonable and logical way to go.” He notes that since the IMO’s 2004 convention on ballast water, only six systems have been certified as meeting the IMO — and now the U.S. — standard.
“It’s not real easy to do,” he says. He thinks the stricter Phase Two standard “should be the ultimate goal,” but that it will require innovation — “technologies or treatments that we haven’t even thought of yet.”
For this reason, he’s pleased that the Coast Guard has planned for a review process over the next several years to assess whether reaching such a high standard will be possible.
Tamburri and his team will be on the frontline testing treatment systems through their work at MERC. Before the new Coast Guard regulations, MERC primarily tested systems striving to achieve the IMO standard for use on foreign ships abroad. Now, systems could be installed on U.S. ships. He says that from now on any data collected at their test facility will also address Coast Guard needs.
The proposed regulations are available for public comment until November 27. After that, the Coast Guard and related agencies will work on addressing feedback and making necessary changes.
Tamburri doesn’t anticipate any major objections from either the environmental community or the shipping industry. Both groups are anxious for change. Given this, he’s hopeful the regulations will be finalized by early next year.
“There’s a lot of motivation to move now. To help solve the problem now.”
For all the coastal ecosystems throughout the world facing the effects of invasive species, now sounds like a good time.
To view the proposed rules visit: http://frwebgate4.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/PDFgate.cgi?WAISdocID=68878897988+0+2+0&WAISaction=retrieve
Posted by Jessica Smits on
September 17, 2009 at 6:42 pm
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September 18th, 2009 at 9:03 am
Dear Sirs, Our Coast Guard is our only option, that has an infrastructure capable of reliable surveillance and testing, whose mission will not be compromised because of economic concern. As our country led the world in space technology during the 60’s we must lead the world in the technology needs to keep our oceans and waters clean. Although the cost of oil and foreign imports may rise, our security as a free nation, (whose national debt and energy needs are keeping us from action) would through the innovation and the spirit of our people, be assured for our children for many generations. Not only must testing be done for live invasive s but also for chemicals used to to kill them, ( AP news report on chemicals in water by Don Mitchell) We must insure that terrorist and foreign sea captain who do not like us can not dump drugs, toxins, chemical or anything else into our waters. The idea of mid ocean flushes being adequate is comparable to “dilution is the solution to pollution”. With Arctic ice melting diluting salinity, ancient pathogens, designer algae being able to act as a pathogens host, future mining and exploration in the deep Sea Bed releasing new microbes, the uptake and discharge of ballast system without treating their water (even in the High Seas) will prove to be a disaster for human health and the environment. By enacting a national policy to create the technology to clean our water we will set the precedent for the world. The only way to achieve this will be through people letting our president and congress know that they have waited to many decades already to address this problem.
Sincerely,
Don Mitchel