Commercial Vessel Discharge Standards: Additional Resources

• Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Protocol for Ballast Water Treatment Technology
• Webinars on the 2013 Vessel General Permit (VGP)
• Reports and Technical Studies

Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Protocol for Ballast Water Treatment Technology

• Generic Protocol for the Verification of Ballast Water Treatment Technology (September 2010)  – EPA developed this protocol in cooperation with the USCG.  It evaluates the performance characteristics of commercial-ready ballast water treatment technologies with regard to specific verification factors, including biological treatment performance, predictability/reliability, cost, environmental acceptability, and safety for land-based testing facilities. Ballast water treatment systems that perform well using this protocol will have a reasonable chance of performing well; although, shipboard trials are also necessary to adequately assess shipboard technology performance.

Webinars on the 2013 Vessel General Permit (VGP)

2015

• Submitting Discharge Monitoring Reports (DMRs) under the 2013 VGP (January 22, 2015) – Overview of the DMR requirements for the 2013 VGP annual report and how to use the Agency's eNOI system to prepare and submit that DMR data to EPA as part of the required annual reports.
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• Submitting Annual Reports under the 2013 VGP (January 7, 2015) – Overview of the 2013 VGP annual reporting requirements and how to use the Agency's eNOI system to prepare and submit those reports.
  • View video 
  • Submitting Annual Reports under the 2013 VGP (pdf) (4.91 MB)  - PowerPoint presentation.

2014
 

• Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants (EALs) as required under the 2013 VGP (February 14, 2014) – Overview of EPA’s 2013 VGP EAL requirements and includes a discussion from EAL industry leaders on the technical specifications, application, and availability of EAL products.
   
• 2013 VGP Self-Sampling Requirements (February 6, 2014) – Information on how to meet the sample collection and analysis monitoring requirements in the 2013 VGP, including identifying an appropriate laboratory and how to prepare sample equipment, collecting and transporting samples, and preparing required documentation.

2013

• Submitting Notices of Intent (NOIs) under the 2013 VGP (November 14, 2013) – Overview of the 2013 VGP NOI requirements and how to use the Agency's eNOI system to prepare and submit those NOIs.
  • View video 
  • Submitting Notices of Intent (NOIs) under the 2013 VGP (pdf) (5.57 MB)  - PowerPoint presentation.

Reports and Technical Studies

• Options to Curb the Transport of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus in Inter-lake Vessel Ballast Water (pdf) (2.57 MB)  - Investigates options to prevent the spread of Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia Virus (VHSV) via ballast water in vessels that traverse the Great Lakes (March 2019).
   

• Analysis of Ballast Water Discharges into the Great Lakes from Overseas Vessels from 2010 to 2013 (pdf) (1.39 MB)  - An assessment of the volume, location, and global port origins of ballast water discharges in the Great Lakes (May 2015).

  • Report Data Tables (xlsx) (651.66 KB)
     

• Feasibility and Efficacy of Using Potable Water Generators as an Alternative Option for Meeting Ballast Water Discharge Limits (pdf) (65.17 MB)  - Overview of a study performed by EPA, in partnership with the U.S. Maritime Administration (MARAD), to assess the feasibility and efficacy of using potable water generators (PWGs) to manage ballast water (July 2015).
   
• Sampling Report: Simulated Ballast Water Intake Characterization Study for High and Low Suction Sea Chests on Lakers (pdf) (15.23 MB)  – Describes EPA efforts to identify whether meaningful differences exist between the characteristics of ambient water drawn near the lake bed through low sea chests on Great Lakes bulk carriers and that withdrawn higher in the water column through side sea chests (April 2015).
   
• Sampling Report for the Vessel General Permitting Program Pump Mortality Study (pdf) (7.19 MB)  - Describes EPA efforts to determine if emptying ballast tanks by pumping creates greater mortality for fish eggs and fish (minnows) than emptying ballast tanks by gravity draining (April 2015).
   
• Availability and Efficacy of Ballast Water Treatment Technology: Background and Issue Paper - Assesses the availability and efficacy of ballast water treatment systems in neutralizing (killing or removing) living organisms contained in the ballast water that would otherwise be discharged available and systems that are known to be in the development process. The scope of ballast water treatment technologies considered includes both systems that have been identified as currently available and systems that are known to be in the development process (June 1, 2010).
   
• Environmentally Acceptable Lubricants - Describes the range of environmentally preferable lubricants that may be used as a best management practice (BMP) by operators of vessels covered under the Vessel General Permit for Discharges Incidental to the Normal Operation of Vessels (VGP) (November 30, 2011).
   
• Exhaust Gas Scrubber Washwater Effluent – Information about effluent washwater discharges associated with the operation of exhaust gas cleaning systems (EGCSs), also known as sulfur oxide (Sox) scrubbers, onboard vessels (November 30, 2011).
   
• Graywater Discharges from Vessels - Updated information on both vessel graywater discharge characteristics and recent developments in graywater treatment technologies (November 30, 2011).
   
• Oily Bilgewater Separators - Discusses oily bilgewater separators (November 30, 2011).
   
• Underwater Ship Husbandry Discharges - Updated information on recent developments in best management practices (BMPs) for reducing pollutant discharges during underwater ship husbandry (November 30, 2011).
   
• Ballast Water Self-Monitoring - Updated information on both recent developments in ballast water treatment technologies and the monitoring requirements to verify that ballast water treatment systems are functioning properly.
   
• EPA's Draft Ballast Water Report: Aquatic Nuisance Species in Ballast Water Discharges (pdf) (449.07 KB)  – EPA prepared this report in response to a January 13, 1999 petition to EPA from the Pacific Environmental Advocacy Center that requested that EPA eliminate the regulatory exemption that currently prevents ballast water discharges from vessels from needing NPDES permits (September 10, 2001).
  • Draft Ballast Water Report Appendices (pdf) (158.04 KB)

  • Draft Ballast Water Report Factsheet (pdf) (123.11 KB)  - Describes the draft Ballast Water Report, how to comment on the draft report, and EPA's response to the petition.

• Report to Congress: Study of Discharges Incidental to Normal Operation of Commercial Fishing Vessels and Other Non-Recreational Vessels Less than 79 Feet (Final) - The study found that some incidental discharges from commercial fishing vessels and other non-recreational vessels less than 79 feet may have the potential to impact the aquatic environment and/or human health. Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OW–2009–0828.

• Assessing the Relationship between Propagule Pressure and Invasion Risk in Ballast Water- A National Academy of Sciences National Research Council (NAS) led study to provide technical advice to EPA and USCG to help inform the derivation of numeric limits for living organisms in ballast water.

  • Density Matters: Review of Approaches to Setting Organism-Based Ballast Water Discharge Standards– A 2010 EPA background paper to inform EPA and USCG efforts to derive environmentally protective numeric ballast water discharge limits under their respective regulatory programs.

• Efficacy of Ballast Water Treatment Systems: a Report by the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) (pdf) (1.26 MB) – An SAB report evaluating the status of ballast water treatment technologies. The July 2011 report found that systems exist to meet the International Maritime Organization (IMO) standard, and some of those systems may achieve a limit 10 times the IMO standard. However, due to the detection limitations of current monitoring technology and approaches, the SAB could not definitively determine whether systems could meet this more stringent limit.
  • Public Docket for the SAB study – A compilation of primary and supporting documents for the SAB study.
  • EPA's August 2011 response to the SAB study (pdf) (183.17 KB)