The Coast Guard has made no decision re the general acceptability of UV as a treatment process
Recently the Coast Guard has been responding to rumors that type approval of ballast water managementsystems (BWMS) that incorporate ultraviolet radiation (UV) as a disinfection process will not be possibleunder Coast Guard type approval requirements. These rumors are not true.
The Coast Guard has made no decision regarding the general acceptability ofUV as a treatment process or the specific acceptability of any UV-based BWMS for purposes of typeapproval under the Coast Guard’s March 2012 Ballast Water Discharge Standard Final Rule. |
USCG believes this misunderstanding has arisen due to differences between the type approval testing that hasbeen conducted in accordance with the International Convention for the Management of Ships’ BallastWater and Sediments adopted by the International Maritime Organization in 2004, and the Coast Guard’stype approval testing procedures as established in the Ballast Water Discharge Standard Final Rule,specifically in 46 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 162.060.
Some individuals are under theimpression that UV systems with type approval granted by other Administrations on the basis of numbersof “viable organisms” will not pass the Coast Guard’s “living organism” threshold, and therefore cannotbe type approved by the Coast Guard.
The Coast Guard is not aware of a validated testing method to determine the viability of the many typesof organisms in ballast water after undergoing treatment by a UV BWMS, but during development of theFinal Rule the Coast Guard anticipated that new testing methods and approaches would arise over time.
Therefore, 46 CFR 162.060-10 (b)(1) allows the Coast Guard to consider proposed alternative approachesto the published testing requirements. In response to requests from UV BWMS manufacturers, the CoastGuard proposed and the EPA ETV Program established, in June 2013, a technical panel to evaluate analternative method for testing UV BWMS that will ensure an equivalent level of protection consistentwith the approach of the current ETV protocol.
The UV technical panel (including representatives from UV manufacturers, Coast Guard, academic andprivate sector research communities, and BWMS testing facilities) is actively engaged in this effort.
Updates on the progress of the panel will be posted on the Coast Guard’s Homeport Ballast WaterManagement Program web page. For more information, please visit USCG official webiste https://Homeport.uscg.mil
Source: USCG