King County Washington officials, home to Seattle, one of the most environmentally conscienous cities in the U.S. says the cruise industry is tainting the very resource they use heavily to promote their city to tourists, by annually dumping 4.2 millions gallons of human waste sludge 12 miles off shore the Seattle coastline as their ships pass back and forth to Canada, and ultimately to Alaska.
King County estimated that the average Alaska-bound cruise ship discharges about 360,000 gallons of treated sewage during the two days it spends in Washington waters.
Cruise Industry Dumping Off Shore
4.2 Million Gallons Of Human Waste Dumped Off Seattle Annually
September 19, 2007
The cruise industry is dumping the human waste sludge into the ocean 12 miles from shore because of an international agreement that extends U.S. protections against sewage sludge dumping by nine miles. Otherwise, they would be dumping it only 3 miles off shore.
The Port of Seattle, the North West CruiseShip Association and the Department of Ecology, all parties to a 2004 agreement that governs the treatment and disposal of cruise ship sewage in Puget Sound and the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary, annually review the agreement to decide if changes need to take place.
Under the agreement, untreated sewage cannot be dumped within Puget Sound and the Strait of Juan de Fuca, south of the international boundary with Canada, as well as the Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary.
After sewage is treated by the ship with onboard systems that strain much of the solid fecal matter from the waste, it can then be discharged into Puget Sound within one nautical mile of the port berth while the ship is traveling at 6 knots. The balance must be dumped outside the 12 mile marker.
Now, King County wants to see all human waste from the cruise ship off-loaded on shore into tankers, sent to the local waste treatment plant, and processed the same as the waste from the municipalities.
Fred Felleman, the Northwest representative of the non-profit Friends of the Earth, called for the port and the cruise lines to study how much it would cost to pump the sludge from their holds onto trucks onshore. Felleman also asked King County to determine how much it would charge for the service.
Whatever the cost, it is clear that it will be more than the no cost alternative the cruise industry is enjoying now. This ensures a fight from the industry which has a track record of fighting vigorously any agreements or legislation that would take away profits from their stockholders.
"The question is whether this cruise industry that we've coveted and asked to come here is, as an industry, being protective of the natural resources that we're trying to showcase," said Councilman Larry Phillips, chairman of the Regional Water Quality Committee.
Cruise ships also can burn their waste, then dump the ashes or send them ashore. Puget Sound Clean Air Agency Executive Director Dennis McLerran has expressed concerns about burning sludge near populated areas.
