How Do Cruise Ships Handle Sewage

The work continued after the ship left port to anchor in the bay on March 16.

How do cruise ships handle sewage. To clean seawater ships often rely on two main methods. Cruise ships are not subject to the requirement for federal permits covering sewer and waste disposal systems that are de rigueur for the resorts and hotels on land. Its now positioned near San Franciscos Hunters Point.

Collect the waste to dry and burn before dumping it. As a result all of those millions of passengers and crew members dining and defecating and showering on the oceans have left filthy discharges in their wake. As the Palm Beach Post points out cruise ships alone dumped more than one.

Federal law requires that cruise ships only dump treated wastewater if they are within three nautical miles of shore. It is then sterilized using UV light and released into the ocean when clean enough to do so. Yesterday the Friends of the Earth FOE filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington DC.

The aeration chamber cleans the waste. Even with aeration systems designed to reduce the amount of water coming out of bathroom taps and shower heads the average ship will. Plastic goes through this massive compactor.

It contains a set of regulations prohibiting sewage discharge from ships unless via an approved sewage treatment plant via a comminuting and disinfecting unit CDU at. There are separate teams to deal with each incoming recyclable. When a toilet is flushed on a cruise ship the sewage travels to the onboard treatment plant.

Ships can dump treated sewage anywhere in the ocean except in Alaskan waters where companies must comply with higher state standards. Posted February 24 2006. Every ship has its own environment officer and crew are responsible for their own recycling.