1 
Points: 

1. BW treatment is a "new" industry. Scale and operational milieus are very different 

from traditional land-based water treatment. Requires new approaches for both 

treatment and the assessment of treatment processes. 

2 
USCG R&D on methods for assessing BW treatment systems and ballast water driven 

by national legislation requiring USCG to regulate BWM by vessels to prevent 

biological invasions mediated by BW discharges. 

Proposed draft regulation published in 2009 for public review and comment. 

Final regulation in clearance now 

3 
To develop protocols for testing the performance of BWMS, USCG has teamed with 

pre-existing USEPA program - the Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) 

Program 

This work provides the basis for U.S. recommendations during negotiation of IMO 

guidance on type approval procedures under t he BWM Convention. 

Final Protocols for land-based tests published in 2010, and available for download. 

The ETV protocols proposed will form the basis for biolog c~! efficacy testing during 

type approvals by the USCG 

4 
Although ETV protocols validated prior to publication through extensive tests at NRLKey West, question remains regarding the comparabi lity of tests conducted by 

different test facilities in different locations. 

USCG and other federal partners currently collaborating on an "intercalibration" 

project to assess the degree to which the ETV protocol can be conducted by different 

test faci lities in a comparable manner. 

Importantly, this test can also provide information on the degree to which the BWMS 

performs when tested similarly under different biological and physical test conditions. 

5 
In the initial testing, two facilities involved, one brackish estuarine and the other 

freshwater. A single BWMS is being tested sequentially at these two sites, under the 

same protocol. 

6 
Is there a chance that additional test facilities can be added? Dependent on funding. 

Currently no funds available, but at least one additional facility is operating in the U.S. 

With additional funds and/or partners, it may be possible to add additional faci lities 

outside the U.S. 

7 
ETV BW treatment system program started with understanding that both land-based 

and shipboard testing were important- but focused initially on LB. 

Second phase to develop shipboard test protocols is beginning 

Stakeholder meeting has been scheduled for first week of August, in ann Arbor, MI. 

Point to make here: ETV provides a mechanism for technology users to identify 

performance factors of interest that may lie outside the envelope of regulatory 

requirements. 

8 
Rapid Indicative analyses 

e.g., residual chem(cals, chlorophyll 

fluorescence. etc 

As indicated by the discussions at IMO, there is great interest and concern regarding 

how the assessment of vessel compliance with the requirements of the BWM 

Convention will be conducted. 

Because of the recognition that definitive analyses based on counts of living 

organisms in the different size classes requires a significant effort, there is keen 

interest in identifying or developing rapid diagnostic methods. Rapid "indicative" 

methods may focus on biological parameters other than the number of individuals, or 

may be based on chemical or physical parameters that are associated with effective 

treatment. These latter parameters may be different for different treatment 

processes. 

In many cases, BWMS developers are incorporating the measurement of some of 

these parameters into the control units for their systems. 

Several biological parameters are also under investigation, such as direct or indirect 

measurement of biological substances or processes, including 

chlorophyl/photoynthesis, ATP, or other metabolic products of cellular processes. 

USCG is exploring the availability and status of methods for assessing compliance of 

discharged water with the requirements of discharge regulations. 

Both rapid indicative and more time-consuming definitive methods are under 

investigation 

With its partner, t he NRL, several methods have been investigated and refined that 

focus on biological attributes. These include methods that use fluorescent markers 

that indicate either viable or dead cells, as well as methods that use standardized and 

automated measures of movement. 

Importantly, any such methods must be carefully validated for use as "tools" under 

operational conditions. 

9 
Finally, with respect to compliance assessment, there is the issue of how to acquire 

and process a representative sample of the BW being discharged by a vessel. 

Statistical theory and implementation constraints dictate that significant volumes of 

water can be necessary to achieve a meaningful measurement of organism number, 

particularly for the larger size classes of organisms. 

Collecting several to tens of cubic meters of water in the confines of an engine room 

or other internal equipment space is usually not possible. USCG and its partner NRL 

have been investigating design for sample ports and for a flow-through sample 

collection apparatus. 

The sample port work contributed greatly to the current IMO guidance on sampling. 

The flow-through apparatus is currently under investigation, but preliminary proof of 

concept work has yielded very positive results. Additional shipboard validation work 

is planned. 

10 
The last R&D effort I'll describe focuses on assessing corrosion risks associated with 

some of the different active substances and treatment processes being developed 

and brought to the market. 

USCG and its partner NRL have begun a series of projects to assess the potential 

effects of BWMSs on corrosion in ballast systems in general, and additionally to also 

look closely at the special case of ships without protective tank coatings, such as 

ships operating exclusively in the U.S. Great Lakes and the inland waterway system. 

11 
The methods developed according to ETV/USCG provide a standardized approach to 

BWT system evaluation. 

A standardized approach is necessary to enable a "level" playing field for all 

technologies. 

Under the USCG's proposed BW discharge standard rule, BWT systems approved by 

other Administrations may be recognized by the U.S., but the methods used by other 

laboratories and Administrations to assess effectiveness of BWT systems would be 

benchmarked against these standardized protocols to ensure an equivalent level of 

performance testing. 

As evidenced by the ongoing discussions at IMO, there is a great deal of concern that 

compliance testing should be conducted in a standardized fashion globally. As 

indicated by this short summary, the U.S. is working to develop and refine effective 

and practicable procedures and methods for assessing compliance with the ballast 

water discharge standard, based on sound science. Advances in the U.S. are being 

shared within the IMO process, and hopefully will assist in the development of a 

globally acceptable uniform approach. 

(It must be remembered that the BWM Convention provides for sanctions to be 

established under the laws of the flag and port States involved, according to the 

circumstances. Given these provisions, one must be realistic about the degree of 

uniformity that is possible on a global scale. That said, well validated, practicable and 

effective methods for assessing compliance will greatly help to achieve a high degree 

of uniformity among flag and port States.) 

12 
in association with 

~ WAR.TSILA 

- state of the nation 9:50-10:10 

US methods for the 

evaluation of BWM systems 

Jon Stewart, President, International Maritime Technical Consultants 

Jon Stewart Is the President of International Maritime Technology Consultants, 

Inc. After co-founding two maritime service and technology companies, he 

formed the Consultancy In 2005, offering consulting services to government and 

Industry with a specialisation in the fields of ballast water and air emissions. 

In addition to consulting work with various shipowners, ship operators, and 

technology developers he acts as a technology industry conduit to a variety of 

governmental and regulatory bodies. He has served on the US delegation to the 

International Maritime Organization as a technical advisor on ballast water issues 

for the last four years. 

T he United States Coast Guard (USCG) has proposed 

a regulation on Standards for Uving Organisms in 

Ships' BaiJast Water Discharged in US Waters. That 

rulemaking is in the final stages of administration review 

prior to publication in the Federal Register. In support of its 

proposed regulations, the USCG has, for some time, been 

working to develop and refine procedures and methods for 

the analysis of ballast water d uring testing of ballast water 

management systems and treated ballast water discharged 

by shlps. This work is being conducted in collaboration 

with partner agencies, including the Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA), the Naval Research Laboratory, 

the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and 

the Maritime Administration. 

Most significantly, Coast Guard and EPA collaborated 

under the Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) 

Program to develop standard protocols for testing ballast 

water management systems in land-based test facilities. 

Two projects are being conducted in direct support of the 

ETV Program. First, a relatively large 'intercalibration' 

project is underway to examine the ability of different 

test facilities to implement the ETV standard protocol in 

a rigorous and comparable manner, with a high degree of 

quality assurance and quality control. Additionally, the 

EPA-USCG ETV partnership has initiated a second phase 

of work to develop a standardised protocol for shipboard 

tests of ballast water treatment systems. 

Other focused research projects are also underway. 

Firstly: the development of a sample processing 

apparatus to facilitate the collection of relatively Large 

volumes of water in the confined circumstances on 

board operational ships. Secondly: the development 

of .improved methods for quantifying the number of 

living organisms in samples of ballast water, particularly 

for protists and zooplankton, using vital stains and 

standardised analyses of movement. This work is 

directed at achieving more standardisation and less 

potential for operator bias when enumerating live and 

dead plankton. Third is the development of relatively 

rapid methods for assessing whether ship discharges 

meet regulatory limits. The inlcnt in this latter effort is to 

streamline compliance sampling and analysis in order to 

minimise resource burdens on regulatory agencies and 

delays and uncertainties to ship operators. 

Finally, a project is underway to determine how various 

ballast water treatment processes affect the corrosion rate 

of ballast tanks and piping materials, and how to assess 

corrosion acceptability as part of type approval.