Ballast water is used when vessels take ocean water into special compartments, called ballasts, to provide stability and optimal waterline on a ship’s hull. Ballast water is either taken onto the ship or released back into the ocean as cargo is
Ballast water is used when vessels take ocean water into special compartments, called ballasts, to provide stability and optimal waterline on a ship’s hull. Ballast water is either taken onto the ship or released back into the ocean as cargo is loaded or unloaded to maintain balance and structural integrity. The practice of adding ballast water in one port and releasing into a foreign port has caused a huge detrimental impact on communities worldwide with harmful bio invasion. UV treatment of ballast water to kill or neutralize the organisms in ballast water is a proven treatment technology for large vessels and tankers.
With the increase of global trade in the last few decades, 90% of global trade is now transported by sea. When ships began utilizing steel hulls, the opportunity to use ballast water for stability greatly increased the practice of ballast water exchange. Each year up to 12 billion tons of ballast water is dumped around the world, releasing aquatic organisms which are not native to the environment they are released in. These foreign invaders include marine sea creatures, bacteria, viruses, microorganisms naked to the human eye and have also been known to include things like toxic algae and Cholera which have caused serious illness and even death to people in affected communities.
Bio invasions from contaminated ballast water is recognized as one of the top four greatest threats facing the sustainability of the world’s oceans. Contaminated ballast water causing harmful bio invasion is a serious threat facing oceans today along with physical destruction and alteration of marine habitats, the overexploitation of living marine resources and marine pollution caused from land based sources.
Ballast Water Management Convention
The International Maritime Organization (IMO) adopted the Ballast Water Management Convention (BWMC) in 2004 which established standards and procedures to prevent the spread of harmful marine organisms from one port to another region. The most recent ratification by the required number of global states makes the BWMC globally enforceable to all ships traveling through international waters, effective September 8, 2017.
All ships traveling through international waters are required to manage ballast water and sediments with a ballast water management system. All ships must maintain a ballast water management certificate along with the record book, which are subject to inspection by any port authority. Newly constructed vessels must have an onboard ballast water treatment system while existing ships encounter phased in requirements. Ballast water treatment systems must meet IMO guidelines and US Coast Guard approval.
There are basically three types of ballast water treatment technologies which include:
- Physical / Mechanical filtration
- Chemical / Electrochlorination
- UV Treatment with UVC ge