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The Great Ships Initiative Evaluates Two Commercial Ballast Treatment Systems in
Fresh Water
NEMWI's
Great Ships Initiative
(GSI) this week begins testing two commercially available ballast water management systems (BWMSs) in freshwater for the United States Coast Guard (USCG).
The two BWMSs operate through compound processes involving filtration and secondary treatment. Outcomes from GSI's freshwater tests will be forwarded to the Independent Laboratory (IL) with which GSI is affiliated (
NSF International
in Ann Arbor, MI). The NSF IL will consolidate GSI's findings with outcomes of counterpart brackish and salt water tests (by GSI's sister facility, the
Maritime Environmental Resource Center,
or MERC, in Baltimore, MD) and component testing facilities (e.g.,
Retlif Laboratories
, located in NY), and based on overall findings, make a recommendation to the USCG for Certification of the BWMSs.
Ships carry ballast water to maintain trim and stability at sea under a variety of cargo conditions. The USCG requires ships to manage their ballast water so that discharges to US waters meet standards designed to prevent new introductions of harmful invasive species. NEMWI's GSI was one of the first testing teams and facilities accepted by the USCG to undertake certification tests on land in a specialized test facility, and at sea on operating ships. Effective BWMSs must effectively kill or remove any kind of aquatic organisms taken up from any harbor in the world without leaving harmful chemical residues in receiving systems. Performance is validated through rigorous testing by USCG certified independent laboratories. After a long period of product development, several commercially available BWMSs are lining up for certification testing. GSI has capacity to plug in two BWMSs at a time for overlapping tests, and is currently undertaking certification test series on the
JFE BallastAce
®
, and the
Evoqua SeaCure System
™.
For more information, contact
Allegra Cangelosi
,
Sr. Policy Analyst, Environmental Projects
and Director, Great Ships Initiative at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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NEMWI Continues Rollout of
Lake Erie Water Quality Study
with Presentation to
Regional Stakeholders
As part of NEMWI's continuing rollout of its Lake Erie Water Quality Study, NEMWI's Elin Betanzo presented study findings to the Western Lake Erie Basin Partnership in Toledo, Ohio on August 18, 2015. She stated that in order to measure the effectiveness of agricultural management practices at the watershed scale, water monitoring sites must be in the right locations, collect the right data, and have the right supporting information to explain causes of water quality change as described in the study. Most of the existing small watershed monitoring sites in the Lake Erie drainage basin lack one or more of these essential elements. The study found that additional targeted small watershed monitoring sites are needed in the basin, but it is even more critical to establish these three essential elements at monitoring sites to be able to measure the effectiveness of agricultural management practices for improving the health of Lake Erie.
The study recommends water monitoring and agriculture agencies work together to identify the most effective small watersheds for concentrating agricultural management practices and measuring water quality, and ensure that all three essential elements are available at prioritized long-term monitoring sites. As the states and federal entities move towards implementing their commitments to 40% reductions in phosphorus inputs, measuring progress toward these targets at small and large watershed scales will be critical to improving the health of Lake Erie. Study files and supporting information are available
here
.
For more information, contact
Elin Betanzo
, Sr. Policy Analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
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NEMWI Seeks Fall Interns
NEMWI seeks candidates for three fall 2015 internships:
- A federal legislation & funding intern will assist NEMWI staff with activities such as analyzing long-term funding trends for regionally-relevant federal programs and tracking appropriations and other legislation, including by attending relevant hearings and briefings.
- A development & communications intern will assist the President & CEO with development and communications activities, such as developing foundation and corporate prospect lists and participating in proposal development and grant report preparation.
- An environmental policy intern will assist with activities such as expanding existing programs and developing new programs in the areas of water quality, waterways, the Great Lakes, and brownfields redevelopment. This intern will also assist with environmental policy education and outreach.
More information on the internships and how to apply is available here.
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NEMWI: Strengthening the Region that Sustains the Nation
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