Wis. Great Lakes ballast 
regs set for Feb.


November 20, 2009

 
MADISON - State environmental officials say they'll begin enforcing new ballast water regulations on Great Lakes vessels in February.

The rules are designed to prevent the spread of invasive species.

Under the new regulations, ships can't discharge ballast tank sediment and seawater. They'll have to adopt best management practices for handling those substances.

By the end of next year, the Department of Natural Resources will decide if commercial treatment technology is available to enable oceangoing ships to meet limits on living organisms in discharged ballast water.

If the technology is available, those ships would have to meet limits 100 times more restrictive than the International Maritime Organization's standards. If the technology isn't feasible, the state's standards will revert to the IMO's limits.

 

Associated Press