Alaska Cruise Ships Sewage

Challenging Alaskas Cruise Ship Pollution Cruise ship at Alaskas Tracy Arm Fjord.

Alaska cruise ships sewage. Table 1 lists wastewater treatment systems onboard large cruise ships and 2019 authorized discharges in Alaska. The sewage on the cruise ship includes the wastewater from the bathrooms toilets urinals medical premises and other similar facilities. Somecruise ships are permitted to dump while docked at port.

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation. While cruise ships have had a significant impact on Juneaus treatment system most of their wastewater goes elsewhere. The EPA sampled wastewater from four cruise ships that operated in Alaska during the summer of 2004.

The proposed changes are only to citations in the regulations to Alaska Statutes. It must be done as per the international maritime laws. Mostcruise ships are permitted by Alaskas Department of Environmental Conservation DEC to dump treated wastewater while moving at 6 knots or faster anywhere anytime in Alaska.

Cruise ships discharge water that is treated to some of the worlds most stringent standards. Cruise Ship Wastewater Management Report August 2007 5 cruise ship traveling between Seattle and Alaska is treated and discharged while the ship is outside of the State and Puget Sound. Forty large cruise ships operated in Alaska in 2019 of those twenty four ships were authorized to discharge treated wastewater in Alaska and eighteen ships discharged treated wastewater and conducted sampling.

Michelle Bonnet Hale the former director of the Division of Water in the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation DEC said it would be a step backward to require ships to hook up to community-based systems as some have suggested. Cruise ships released over one billion gallons of sewage into the ocean in 2014 according to a new report from Friends of the Earth. Wastewater treatment permits.

The public comment period started November 21 2017 and. On some cruise ships especially many of those that travel in Alaskan waters sewage is treated using Advanced Wastewater Treatment AWT systems that generally provide improved screening treatment disinfection and sludge processing as compared with traditional MSDs marine sanitation devices. The Impact of Cruise Ship Wastewater Discharge on Alaska Waters.