Page 31: of Marine News Magazine (April 2021)

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EPA writes: “The challenge in ballast water management…is not adopting a lower or more stringent standard, but instead focusing on the vessel installation of available and high- ly ef? cient BWMS. VIDA provides [an] opportunity to streamline the ballast water regulations which should aid with the operation of demonstrated, but not yet fully op- timized, systems.”

Note the reference to systems, i.e., to hardware avail- able today.

Given this call for action, the new MARAD-Glosten guide is timely. At 85 pages, the guide is a substantive doc- ument, helpful from planning to training to compliance to maintenance.

The guide’s electronic format really makes it more of a library, not just a singular book. It includes numerous inter- nal and external links, to U.S. Coast Guard docs, for exam- ple, as well as IMO references and classi? cation societies.

Even for readers new to this subject, the guide is ap- proachable and straightforward in introducing compli- cated subjects and establishing pathways to move logically from one step to the next.

Alan Orthmann, PE, a marine engineer with Glosten, was the guide’s project manager. “Start with the Guide Nav- igator,” Orthmann advises. “Whether you are just starting out or you already have ? eetwide ballast water treatment installations completed, but are trying to develop a more robust training program, the guide offers support across the spectrum of operators tasked with long-term compli- ance with ballast water regulations.”

The guide provides detailed advice on selecting Coast

Guard approved equipment and shipyard planning and subsequent requirements pertaining to compliance, moni- toring and enforcement. A ? nal section is called “BWMS

Life Cycle” and deals with training programs and mainte- nance and repair.

The guide also addresses non-federal ballast program requirements. Five states, for example, have ballast water exchange requirements in addition to BW treatment. It’s worth noting that the guide is cautionary about exchange re- quirements, writing that “exchange plus treatment presents the ship operator with signi? cant logistics and safety issues.”

Additionally, seven states have chlorine discharge stan- dards. Finally, there are discharge-limited areas such as