2014 Webinar Recap: How Well do Today’s Ballast Water Filters Perform in Natural Fresh Water?

Ballast water of commercial ships is a primary vector for non-native aquatic species introductions to new environments, where they may become invasive, destructive and even threaten human health. Regulatory deadlines for ships to install effective ballast water management systems (BWMS) rapidly approach, and the need for competent BWMS to reach the marketplace is urgent. Many BWMS design concepts carefully couple high-flow filtration with secondary treatment processes (like UV or biocides) to maximize efficiency and effectiveness. But real-world information on what filters can and cannot achieve in natural fresh water-perhaps the most challenging for filtration-is extremely limited.

The NEMWI’s Great Ships Initiative (GSI) November 11, 2014 webinar provided policy and technical background on a two-month series of filter system tests, an overview of the commercially available filters subject to testing, the biological and operational performance findings from the work, and a panel-discussion on the tests, methods and implications.

GSI conducted the filter system tests on nine commercially-available ballast water filters at its world-class, land-based testing facility in the freshwater Duluth-Superior Harbor of Lake Superior, with support from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. The testing supplies critical information to BWMS developers, customers, environmental stakeholders, and regulators. The Webinar will provide policy and technical background on the tests, an overview of the commercially available filters subject to testing, the biological and operational performance findings from the work, and opportunity for a panel-discussion on the tests, methods and implications. Materials available here.