FOUR FIRMS TO DESIGN ON-BOARD BALLAST WATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS

FOUR FIRMS TO DESIGN ON-BOARD BALLAST WATER TREATMENT SYSTEMS    Four marine engineering and naval architecture firms have been awarded $100,000 to design on-board ballast water treatment systems for ships.
   The Northeast-Midwest Institute, a non-profit policy research organization, and the Lake Carriers Association, an industry group of U.S.-flag vessel operators on the Great Lakes, awarded the money to the firms to help combat invasions of aquatic pests transported in ship ballast.
   Ballast water has been the source of many aquatic pest epidemics.
   The four firms are The Glosten Associates of Seattle; Herbert Engineering Corp. of Alameda, Calif.; Hyde Marine of Cleveland; and Fleet Technology of Kanata, Ontario.
   The Northeast-Midwest Institute and the Lake Carriers Associations formed the Great Lakes Ballast Technology Demonstration Project in 1996 to research biological and engineering aspects of on-board water treatment equipment. Funds for the project also come from Great Lakes Protection Fund, the Environmental Protection Agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Minnesota’s Legislative Commission on Minnesota Resources.
   “Promising treatment systems are being engineered for ships to prevent ballast mediated biological invasions, but ship owners need to understand exactly how they will affect ship systems and ship operations at full scale,” said Rick Harkins of the Lake Carriers Association.
   The design studies will be completed by June 2001 and reviewed at a marine engineering conference.