Over the past several days, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) has issued a number of wastewater discharge Notices of Violation (NOV) with respect to the Cruise Ship Discharge General Permit. Each of these NOVs is based on information properly reported by the Alaska Cruise Association (ACA) member lines.
The Cruise Ship General Permit represents the first instance in the nation in which vessel operations are regulated under a discharge permit. Twenty-five cruise ships began operations under this permit in early May, 2008, only a few weeks after the final permit was issued by ADEC. In most cases, the NOVs cite small excedences and/or a misunderstanding of the new, very complex rules. In one case, a line received a NOV because it based its calculation on a 30-day reporting period - as is the requirement under federal regulation - versus the calendar month the permit requires. In every case, the lines have, and will continue, to work cooperatively with ADEC.
The best treatment plants operated in Alaska are found on our ships. The standards to which our ships are held are far more stringent that those applied to the very communities to which we sail. To quote from a press release ADEC issued in March: "The majority of large cruise ships operating in Alaska have advanced wastewater treatment systems that produce a very high quality discharge - much higher, for example, than shore-based municipal sewage treatment systems."
Communities held to much different standard
This is evidenced by a simple comparison of requirements. For example, the annual limit for copper for the Mendenhall treatment plant in Juneau averages almost 2½ times that currently applied to cruise shi