Ballast Water on board ships
Ballast water has been one of the most prominent topics in the marine industry for years now. While ballast water is necessary to provide draft and stability for ships, it is also an introduction vector for invasive or non-native species (NIS) in environments or ecological zones to which (untreated) Ballast Water is discharged. The consequences reach from the transfer of pathogens (i.e. Vibrio cholerae), the severe disturbance of ecological webs with the consequential huge economical impacts on the associated industries and loss of biodiversity.
To counteract these problems, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) have introduced strict discharge standards for international vessels:
Ballast Water Treatment Systems (BWTS) must typically be used to safely reach these discharge standards. The implementation of these standards is ship dependent and coupled to the IOPP certificate (IMO) resp. for US waters the compliance date defined in the Code of Federal Register (33 CFR 151) or through an extension to compliance date letter after formal application at USCG.
All ships intending to call in U.S. ports must also comply with the USCG standards. These require the same ballast water discharge standards on top of additional requirements.
Ballast water treatment on board ships from RWO
RWO CleanBallast system relies on two stage treatment based on full-stream electrochlorination and disk-filtration principles which offer stable operation, even in estuarine port environments with high sediment loading.
