ATLAS-DANMARK Ballast Water treatment System (ABWS)
Legal requirements
The IMO Ballast Water Convention has set up the following standard for the quality of the water – the Ballast Water Quality Standard – discharged from any vessels:
Ballast Water Quality Standard
The quality of the ballast water discharged must meet the following requirements:
Less than 10 viable organisms per m3 of greater than or equal to 50 µm in minimum dimension
Less than 10 viable organisms per mL of less than 50 µm in minimum dimension and of larger than or equal to 10 µm in minimum dimension
Less than the following concentrations of indicator microbes (but not limited to these microbes), as a human health standard:
- Toxicogenic Vibrio Cholerae (serotypes O1 and O139) with less than 1 Colony Forming Unit (cfu) per 100 mL or less than 1 cfu per 1 g (wet weight) zooplankton samples
- Escherichia Coli less than 250 cfu per 100 mL
- Intestinal Enterococci less than 100 cfu per 100 mL
It should be noted, that Vibrio Cholerae is fatal, that Escherichia Coli causes serious stomach infections and that Enterococci is a strong indicator of general hygienic problems.
The Convention will enter into force 12 months after ratification by 30 States, representing 35% of the world’s merchant shipping tonnage. Furthermore, the above Standard is anticipated to be fully implemented by 2012.
ATLAS-DANMARK Ballast Water treatment System (ABWS)
Atlas-Danmark Ballast Water Clean-up system (developed with support from The Danish Maritime Foundation) is now approved by the EU-Commission to be not subject to the Biocide Directive, The Danish Maritime Administration and the application for Basic Approval has been submitted by the Danish Government to MEPC and GESAMP. The system is further in the process of obtaining type approval by Lloyd’s Register of Shipping.