Cruise Ship Pollution
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Contents |
The Problem
Cruise ships have been described as "floating cities" and like cities, they have a lot of pollution problems. Their per capita pollution is actually worse than a city of the same population, due to weak pollution control laws, lax enforcement, and the difficulty of detecting illegal discharges at sea. Cruise ships impact coastal waters in several US states, including Alaska, California, Florida, and Hawaii.
All cruise ships generate the following types of waste:
- "Gray water" from sinks, showers, laundries and galleys
- Sewage or "black water" from toilets
- Oily bilge water
- Hazardous wastes (including perchloroethylene from drycleaning, photo-processing wastes, paint waste, solvents, print shop wastes, fluorescent light bulbs, and batteries)
- Solid wastes (plastic, paper, wood, cardboard, food waste, cans, and glass)
- Air pollution from the ship's diesel engines
A 3,000-passenger cruise ship (considered an average size, some carry 5,000 or more passengers) generates the following amounts of waste on a typical one-week voyage:
- 1 million gallons of "gray water"
- 210,000 gallons of sewage
- 25,000 gallons of oily bilge water
- Over 100 gallons of hazardous or toxic waste
- 50 tons of garbage and solid waste
- Diesel exhaust emissions equivalent to thousands of automobiles
In addition, these ships take in large quantities of ballast water, which is seawater pumped into the hulls of ships to ensure stability. This water is typically taken in at one port and then discharged at the ship's destination, which can introduce invasive species and serious diseases into U.S. waters. A typical release of ballast water amounts to 1,000 metric tons.
Regulations
Cruise ships (and other ships) are required to have "marine sanitation devices", which are designed to prevent the discharge of untreated sewage. Sewage must be treated to specified standards before discharge if the ship is stationary of if it is within a specified distance (generally three miles) of shore. When the ship is beyond three miles from shore, there are no restrictions on the release of untreated sewage.
There are no restrictions on the release of gray water, except in the Great Lakes.
Discharge of oil or oily water into US navigable waters, adjoining shorelines or waters which may affect natural resources within 200 miles of shore is prohibited, unless the oily water is passed through an oil-water separator designed to reduce the oil concentration to 15 parts per million (ppm) within 12 miles of shore or within 100 ppm beyond 12 miles from shore. Ships are required to keep Oil Record Books to record their disposal of oily residues and bilge water.
Hazardous wastes should be properly packaged and labeled and disposed in permitted on-shore facilities, but the applicability of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) to ships and Cruise Lines is not clear.
The dumping of garbage at sea is prohibited within certain distances from shore, generally ranging from 3 to 25 miles. Dumping of plastic is prohibited everywhere at sea, and all discharge or incineration of garbage must be recorded in a Garbage Record Book.
Although there are pending new rules from the EPA on diesel engine emissions, there are essentially no present emission restrictions and the proposed new rules are still much weaker than for land-based emission sources.
The Record
The cruise ship industry does not have a good record of compliance with the existing weak regulations.
- From 1993 to 1998, cruise ships were involved in 87 confirmed cases of illegal discharges of oil, garbage, and hazardous wastes into US waters, and have paid more than $30 million in fines. Some of these cases involved multiple incidents of illegal dumping that numbered in the hundreds over the six-year period.
- In 2001, Royal Caribbean admitted in court it had installed special piping to bypass pollution control devices and pleaded guilty to dumping toxic chemicals. Royal Caribbean was levied fines and penalties totaling $33.5 million to settle dumping complaints that occurred between 1994 and 1998.
- In April 2002, Carnival Corporation pleaded guilty to falsifying records to cover up pollution by six ships over several years. They were assessed an $18 million fine and were placed on probation.
- In July 2002, Norwegian Cruise Lines paid a $1 million fine and agreed to pay $500,000 to environmental organizations in Florida for falsifying Coast Guard records regarding discharge of oily waste and hazardous waste into the ocean.
- In September 2002, a fired Carnival Cruise Lines executive filed a "whistle-blower" lawsuit, alleging a host of environmental violations, including toxic chemical dumping.
- In October 2002, Carnival Corp. disclosed that officers from one of its ships had been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury in Alaska regarding a 40,000-gallon wastewater release.
- In April 2003, a lawsuit filed by Bluewater Network, Environmental Law Foundation, San Diego Baykeeper and Surfrider Foundation against Carnival Corp., Princess Cruise Lines, Royal Caribbean, Holland America and others for illegal discharge of ballast water into shoreline waters was settled after the cruise lines agreed to pay $75,000 to research alternative ballast water management technologies. Carnival Corp. admitted to breaking the law.
Solutions
Pollution from cruise ships is totally preventable. The technology exists. We simply need effective regulations that are enforced.
The Bluewater Network (now Friends of the Earth) issued a report on Cruise Ship Pollution in March 2000 that urged the EPA to conduct an in-depth review of the impact of waste discharges from cruise ships, examine the existing applicable regulations, develop recommendations on how to better control cruise ship waste discharges, and ensure that the regulations were implemented. Surfrider joins Friends of the Earth, The Ocean Conservancy, and other environmental groups in urging EPA to respond to the March 2000 request to identify and regulate pollution from cruise ships.
In California, a protest by The Ocean Conservancy and other environmental groups resulted in an agreement by Princess Cruises not to discharge wastewater while located in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. More recently, it was announced in August 2010 that new federal regulations, scheduled to go into effect in 2011, would bar cruise vessels and large commercial ships from discharging sewage within three miles of California's coastline. On February 9, 2012, EPA finalized a rule in response to an application from the State of California, and established a No Discharge Zone (NDZ) for large vessels in all California marine waters that will go into effect in March 2012. More info.
In Maine, a bill was introduced in March 2003 which would make Maine one of the first states to establish statewide wastewater quality standards for passenger ships by prohibiting ships from dumping any partially treated sewage or other wastewater in or around Portland Harbor.
On an individual level, if you are planning a cruise, investigate the cruise line to be sure their ships do not have a record of pollution (see Cruise Ship Report Card). If you are on a cruise ship and observe any dumping of plastic or hazardous materials to sea, you should report it to the National Response Center at 1-800-424-8802.
In 2012 Friends of the Earth released a Cruise Ship Report Card that gives an A through F grade to 15 cruise lines. The cruise lines were graded on sewage treatment, air pollution reduction, water quality compliance, and overall environmental footprint.
References
Getting a Grip on Cruise Ship Pollution (Friends of the Earth)
2012 Cruise Ship Report Card (Friends of the Earth)
Cruise Ship Pollution Overview (Oceana)
More Cruise Ship Information (Oceana)
U.S. Keeps Wary Eye on Cruise Ships for More Pollution, by Marilyn Adams, USA TODAY. November 8, 2002.
This article is part of a series on Clean Water which looks at various threats to the water quality of our oceans, and the negative impacts polluted waters can have on the environment and human health.
For information about laws, policies, programs and conditions impacting water quality in a specific state, please visit Surfrider's State of the Beach report to find the State Report for that state, and click on the "Water Quality" indicator link.
