The United States Coast Guard (USCG) has released its Practicability Review, ‘Standards for Living Organisms in Ships’ Ballast Water Discharged in U.S. Waters’ that was conducted to determine whether technology to comply with a standard more stringent than the USCG current regulation in ballast water can be practicably implemented.
The Practicability Review concludes that at this time technology to achieve a significant improvement in ballast water treatment efficacy onboard ships cannot be practicably implemented.
The reason for this determination is that, as of the date of completion of the Practicability Review, there are no data demonstrating that ballast water management systems (BWMS) can meet a discharge standard more stringent than the existing performance standards. In order to make a determination of whether there are technologies that can achieve a higher ballast water discharge standard, there must be further data available from land-based and shipboard testing.
The document also looks at whether testing protocols that can assure accurate measurement of compliance with a more stringent performance standard can be practicably implemented.
The USCG states that it has not evaluated whether testing protocols exist which can accurately measure efficacy of treatment against a performance standard more stringent than the existing performance standards.
The Practicability Review can be viewed by clicking here.
Ship Efficiency Review News
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