The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Cruise Ship Program issued the Large Commercial Passenger Vessel Wastewater Discharge General Permit in March 2008 to meet the requirement of Alaska Statute 46.03.462. DEC analysis indicated that cruise ships could not immediately comply with the statute’s strict “point of discharge” effluent limits in the General Permit for ammonia, copper, nickel, and zinc. Therefore, the permit contains interim effluent limits that are less stringent for the 2008 and 2009 cruise ship seasons. The permit contains long term effluent limits for these parameters based upon the water quality standards that must be met by the 2010 cruise ship season.

An analysis of this 2008 data reveals that under current operational practices, the existing wastewater treatment systems installed on large cruise ships cannot consistently treat wastewater to the long term effluent limits.

Although it is the cruise ships’ responsibility to comply with the terms of the General Permit, it is important for DEC to be knowledgeable about the types of technology that may exist to enable cruise ships to meet the long term effluent limits.  DEC is working with OASIS Environmental, Inc. to produce an inventory and evaluation of existing and innovative new control technologies to further reduce and/or remove ammonia and metals from the treated wastewater effluent of large cruise ships.
DEC and OASIS issued the draft of the feasibility study on February 16, 2009.

DEC hosted a technology workshop on February 18, 2009.  During the workshop, OASIS gave a presentation on the draft feasibility study.  In addition, wastewater treatment experts, wastewater treatment system vendors, and a professor gave presentations on promising technologies that could be applied to cruise ships.

Although land-based technologies exist that can reduce the pollutants to the long term permit limits, cruise line representatives provided input on the difficulties of adapting a land based technology to a ship.  Concerns included safety, limited space, maintenance, and the timeline to complete the work.  Presenters estimated that it can take 1 – 2 years to go from the stage of characterizing a cruise ship’s influent to having a system installed and working correctly on a vessel.  Several ships are already working with vendors on technology pilot projects.

Workshop participants and the general public are encouraged to provide additional input on the draft feasibility study by March 4th to:

Oasis Environmental
Max Schwenne
825 W. 8th Ave.
Anchorage, AK 99501
Phone: (907) 258-4880
Fax: (907) 258-4033
akcruise@oasisenviro.com

DEC and OASIS will incorporate the information gathered through the workshop, our own research, and comments received on the draft report to produce a final report in mid April.

For more information about the DEC Cruise Ship Program, please contact: