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Jul 12: U.S. EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB) has issued its finalized advisory report -- Efficacy of Ballast Water Treatment Systems -- responding to a request from the Agency's Office of Water (OW) [See WIMS 5/24/11]. OW requested SAB to provide advice on technologies and systems to minimize the impacts of invasive species in vessel ballast water discharge. Vessel ballast water discharges are a major source of non-indigenous species introductions to marine, estuarine, and freshwater ecosystems of the United States.
Ballast water discharges are regulated by the EPA under authority of the Clean Water Act (CWA) and by the United States Coast Guard (USCG) under authority of the National Invasive Species Act (NISA). At present, Federal requirements for managing ballast water discharges rely primarily on ballast water exchange; however changes to federal ballast water regulations are under consideration. On August 28, 2009, the USCG proposed revising their existing rules to establish numeric concentration-based limits for live organisms in ballast water. The proposed rule would initially require compliance with a "Phase 1 standard" that has the same concentration limits as the International Maritime Organization (IMO) D-2 standard and subsequently require compliance with a more stringent "Phase 2 standard." EPA's existing CWA general permit for vessels will expire on Dec. 19, 2013. In its revisions to the vessel general permit, the EPA is considering numeric standards that limit the number of live organisms in discharged ballast water.
To prepare the report, the SAB Panel reviewed a "Background and Issues Paper" prepared by OW and USCG (June 2010) as well as information on 51 existing or developmental ballast water management systems (BWMS) provided by OW and the public, although detailed data were available for only 15 BWMS.
Complete Posting at:
http://greatlakesenvironment.blogspot.com/2011/07/sab-final-review-of-ballast-water.html
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