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1 INTRODUCTION

Due to the multiple anthropogenic pressures world’s

marine ecosystems are seriously degraded and

nations worldwide have to take measures to achieve

Sustainable Development Goal 14: “Conserve and

sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources

for sustainable development” adopted in September

2015 by all United Nations (UN) Member States [25].

To stimulate actions by stakeholders working at the

science/policy interface to strengthen the management

of oceans and coasts the UN has proclaimed “A

Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development

(2021-2030)” [26]. Sewage discharges, particularly if

untreated, contribute significantly to marine pollution

[15]. Pathogens, nutrients, heavy metals, and various

regulated and emerging organic micropollutants

entering water bodies pose a risk to human and

animal health, particularly in coastal regions exposed

to intense human activity.

Ships, depending on the number of people

onboard, length of the voyage, and type of toilets,

may generate large quantities of sewage [20].

Moreover, sewage from some types of ships, such as

cruisers, contains a wide range of chemicals with

different properties (heavy metals, polycyclic

aromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides, fragrances, UV

filters, pharmaceuticals, flame retardants, anionic

surfactants, and food additives), sometimes in higher

concentrations than urban wastewater. Once entered

into the receiving marine environment contaminants

Towards Situation-Dependent Regulations for the

revention of Ship-generated Sewage Pollution in

pecific Areas

. Čulin

& P. Kopacz

University of Zadar, Zadar, Croatia

Gdynia Maritime University, Gdynia, Poland

ABSTRACT: The objective of this paper is to present a background for a concept of situation-dependent

adjustment of environmental regulations for the prevention of ship-generated sewage pollution. Unlike the

standard rules based only on a constant distance from the nearest land that routinely disregard the effect of drift

caused by local surface currents, tidal streams, or winds, we consider taking into account the situational

dependence in addition. This includes the available hydrometeorological data on the seawater flow, the initial

position and time of disposal, and ultimately, sea state, the physical and biochemical properties of the

substances (sewage, wastewater) discharged overboard. Computing the approximate dynamics of drifted

sewage yields estimated information on the prohibited (permitted) zones of discharge and the boundary

subareas of the predicted distribution or the maximum (minimum) concentrations of contaminants,

respectively. This can be further applied to the innovative decision support systems aimed at preventing local

pollution, involving stakeholders on both sides: ship masters and shore services on marine environment

protection, as well as to developing local legislation. In order to justify the proposed approach and to emphasize

the relevance of situational dependence concerning the natural motions of sea water bodies, our study is

illustrated with some examples based on real-world data including various drift effects.

http://www.transnav.eu

the

International Journal

on Marine Navigation

and Safety of Sea

Transportation

Volume 18

Number 3

September 2024

DOI: 10.12716/1001.18.03.1

614

may evaporate, float, dissolve, and sink in various

combinations, and duration of these processes may

take a relatively long time. Dissolvers and sinkers

endanger aquatic organisms in the water column and

the sediments, while birds, marine mammals, and

benthic life forms along the coast are mainly exposed

to floaters [14]. Pollution by ship-generated sewage

can bring serious damage to marine ecosystems and it

is of great significance to determine and implement

measures to reduce it.

Currently, various legislative solutions are

referring to discharges of sewage from ships [5]. The

common characteristic of legislative measures is that

the discharge of sewage into the sea within a specified

distance from the nearest land is prohibited. Annex IV

of the International Convention for the Prevention of

Pollution from Ships (MARPOL), defines 3 NM for

comminated and disinfected sewage using an

approved system and 12 NM for untreated sewage.

The U.S. Clean Water Act also determines 3 NM as the

distance within the discharge of untreated sewage is

forbidden. Specified distances from the nearest land

which occurs in the mentioned regulations originate

from the law and present the breadth of the territorial

sea. However, the transport and fate of contaminants

from sewage in natural environments depend on their

physical and chemical properties and circulation

patterns of the receiving sea and vary substantially

[19]. Therefore minimum of 3 NM for discharge of

comminated and disinfected sewage or 12 NM for raw

sewage may be unnecessarily too large. Moreover, the

inconvenience of travelling offshore may contribute to

violations, which occur frequently [6]. On the other

hand, the discharge of wastewater from ships at an

allowed distance may affect the migration routes and

behaviours of animals or significantly contribute to

the degradation of water quality [4]. Accordingly, we

believe that an approach based on the fixed distances

from land, ice shelf, or fast ice could be improved.

This work aims to propose an improvement of the

existing regulations that refer to discharging

wastewater from ships into moving water bodies. We

suggest a situation-dependent approach that makes

use of updated environmental information (reliable

prediction) for local regulations or recommendations,

not being based only on the fixed distances from, e.g.

the nearest land, irrespective of natural drift effects.

Such a concept enables us to ensure at least the same

level of environmental protection as the current

regulations and could prove to be more efficient for

the vessel operators and shoreside.

2 A DESCRIPTION OF THE APPROACH WITH

EXAMPLES

Pathogens, one of the most prevalent contaminants in

natural waters, have been associated with a wide

range of sicknesses. However, instead of their direct

monitoring, fecal indicator bacteria (FIB) (fecal

coliforms, total coliforms, enterococci, Escherichia

coli) have been used worldwide for the assessment of

sanitary water quality. The fate and transport of FIB in

the marine environment depend on many factors.

Biotic (predation and competition), and abiotic

(salinity, nutrients, dissolved oxygen, temperature,

visible light) environmental factors affect their

survival [3]. Natural attenuation depends also on

dilution, sorption, advection, and dispersion [10].

Therefore, meteorological data, water quality data,

coastal geometry, and bathymetry are required to

apply mechanistic models to predict its concentration

[24]. However, research data indicate that regardless

of conditions, fecal pollutants become diluted at

distances less than 3 km from a source toward the

open sea or deeper water [7,17,23]. Taking into

account the above-mentioned facts, “the worst-case

scenario” of contaminants from the raw sewage

reaching the nearshore includes FIB. For the purposes

of this study, concerning the permission to discharge

raw sewage, it can be assumed without loss of general

concept that it behaves like a perfect persistent floater

that will first reach the shore or a particular sea area,

and its dynamic is based on the resulting horizontal

current/stream-driven motion of the surrounding

seawater.

The numerically simulated Lagrangian paths of

seawater or pollution parcels are often used as test

elements to evaluate the risk of an impact by pollution

discharged in a particular position. In fact, the paths

are usually not Lagrangian, that is, they are locked in

the surface layer and only advection driven by two-

dimensional (horizontal) currents is exerted. Such

treatment surely does not represent the propagation

of oil spills that are also affected by additional

reasons, e.g., chemical processes, buoyancy effects,

met-ocean drivers, and Stokes drift [8,13]. This can be

applied to persistent substances dissolved in the thin

surface stratum, e.g., different contaminants or

radioactive materials. The quasi-Lagrangian models

of such type enable us to evaluate the contribution of

propagation driven by currents or streams in terms of

environmental risks. For instance, oil spills under the

combined effect of wind and currents were

investigated by applying an advanced model in the

Gulf of Finland [13]. The essential outputs are the

probability distributions for the parcels released in

various areas at sea to reach the nearshore regions as

well as the duration, i.e., particle age or residence time

at sea [21].

To clarify the concept of situation-dependent local

regulations, it is sufficient to use some simplified

models for our purposes. Knowing the discharge data

including drift enables us to monitor the

environmental situation more efficiently and predict

the consequences of the discharges from ships into

seawater at least in some particular cases (local areas),

and therefore the impact on the local environment,

e.g., coastlines, special zones, sensitive sea areas. For

illustrative goals, the drifting paths and applied flow

fields presented below are based on some real-world

data, simulating planar seawater motions. It is

assumed that the sea areas under consideration are

local. Thus, the two-dimensional Euclidean plane can

be chosen as background. In an extended global

approach, the spheroidal cups should be considered

in order not to neglect the curvature of the Earth but

this falls beyond the scope of this paper. For the sake

of simplicity and without loss of generality, the floater

will be modelled as particle-type, i.e. the physical- and

chemical dispersion is neglected in particular. Thus,

the numerically obtained trajectories of flowing

seawater (a perfect floater with the simplified

615

dynamics) are considered. The scenarios with some

tidal streams and surface currents are shown in a

sequel. Their directions and speeds vary in time or sea

areas (geographical position) under consideration.

Depending on the software and preferred methods,

the computational part can be refined and some of the

existing algorithms can also be used in this regard;

see, for example, [8,13,21].

2.1 Time-dependence based on local tidal stream area

We start with a scenario concerning drift in a tidal

stream area. In this case, the corresponding data, i.e.

set and rate (for both neap and spring tides) are

repeated periodically and refer to high water at a

specific place. Consequently, water motion is

predictable with high accuracy and the corresponding

tidal stream atlases present hourly motion vectors. For

clarity and example, see the self-explanatory charts of

the area of the Channel Islands off the coast of

Normandy (Figure 1). The black arrows show the tidal

streams 2, 4, and 6 hours after high water at the

reference port (Dover in this case), and the same

distribution is repeated twice a day (a semidiurnal

tidal cycle including two high tides and low tides

every lunar day). At each measuring point (the so-

called “tidal diamonds” marked on the marine

navigational charts) the flow direction and speed are a

known function of time. Tidal flow timings and

velocities appear in tidal stream atlases, tide charts, or

modern electronic navigational databases, e.g.

Electronic Chart Display and Information System

(ECDIS) installed onboard the ships, following the

requirements of the SOLAS Convention (Chapter V,

“Safety of navigation”). Tidal flows are significant for

navigation, and serious errors in position occur if they

are not taken into account. In general, the resulting

drifting paths are different as they depend on position

and time, like the streams. As a consequence, the

points of the intermediate/final destination or the

concentration areas of the discharged floaters vary.

However, by knowing the environmental data and

characteristics of the substances the trajectory can be

computed and predicted in sufficiently accurate way.

Figure 1. The varying flow directions and speeds of tidal

streams repeated periodically in the area of the Channel

Islands off the coast of Normandy 2 (left), 4 (middle), and 6

hours (right) after high water at Dover [27].

We make now use of the data coming from an

actual measuring point of the streams, which is

positioned in the northern part of the English

Channel. The details are presented in a tabular and

graphical form in Figure 2.

Figure 2. Left: the tabular form of the tidal stream data

referred to high water at Eastbourne (tidal diamond “A”).

Right: the corresponding graphs of set (dashed black) and

rate (spring tide - blue, neap tide - orange).

For practical applications, it is often assumed that

the streams in the local area near the reference

positions are approximately the same. Thus, a

modelled vector field that is time-dependent locally,

but not position-dependent will be considered in the

sequel. We simply aimed to show how the trajectory

of the drifted floaters looks like while being

considered as a function of time, where the initial

position (discharge) is located at the measuring point

(Figure 3). The fact that the semidiurnal tides have a

period of ca. 12 hours 25 minutes is taken into

account.

Figure 3. The approximated drifting paths at the spring

(blue) and neap (orange) rate, where the maximum ranges

of drift are generated for 3 tidal cycles (t = 37.25 hours), with

the corresponding map in the background. The tidal stream

data refer to high water at Eastbourne, starting from the

position of the tidal diamond “A” (the simulated release of

the floaters marked by a red mark) 6 hours before high

water.

2.2 Position-dependence based on surface currents in the

open sea area

Now the open sea area in the Atlantic, i.e., 31° - 35°N

and 035° - 031°W has been considered. This covers 10

forecasts for the surface currents’ motion with 24-hour

steps from 11 Nov. 2019, 03:00 UTC till 20 Nov. 2019,

03:00 UTC. The related data have been saved in GRIB2

(GRIdded Binary or General Regularly distributed

Information in Binary form) format. This is

standardized by the World Meteorological

Organization’s Commission for Basic Systems and

used in meteorology to store weather forecast

including numerical weather prediction output as

well as historical data. They are analysed and

transformed with the use of Mathematica software

from Wolfram Research to obtain the approximated

analytical formula of the corresponding vector field in

the area under consideration. Such mathematical

616

operation requires finding the appropriate fitting

functions that represent the flow of seawater in the

area of disposal.

First, to create a comparison to the tidal area

mentioned above, we obtain a trajectory in the vicinity

of one measuring point, located at (33°N, 035°W). For

simplicity, we assume that the current is only time-

dependent herein. Thus, the scenario is similar to the

previous example, however now the sea current is no

longer cyclic, by contrast to the tidal stream. The

corresponding data of direction and speed as the

functions of time are presented in Figure 4 (left). The

linear model with the best-fit function based on the

trigonometric functions has been constructed. The

resulting trajectory is shown in Figure 4 (right). In this

case, the drifting distance after 2 days equals 23.9 Nm

(north-north-west direction) in the presence of a time-

dependent vector field under consideration.

Figure 4. Left: the graphs of the surface current (direction -

dashed black, speed – solid blue) in position (33°N, 035°W)

for the period: 11 Nov. 2019, 03:00 UTC - 20 Nov. 2019, 03:00

UTC (24 hours steps, i.e., 10 days). Right: the simulated local

drifting path (NNW-bound) generated from the position

(33°N, 035°W) which is the origin (0,0) in the presented local

coordinate system, and starting on 11 Nov. 2019, 03:00 UTC.

As already mentioned a surface current is in

general position-varying as well. Therefore, we now

take into account 81 measuring points in the entire

area (every 0.5° of latitude and longitude), and the

spatially-varying surface currents are analysed. The

models including the data for 11 Nov. 2019, 03:00

UTC are presented graphically in Figure 5.

Figure 5. The models are based on the fitting functions of

two variables (surfaces) being the polynomials of degree 7,

which are presented graphically with the data for speed

(left) and direction (right) of the surface current in the open

sea area (31°−35°N, 031°−035°W), 11 Nov. 2019, 03:00 UTC.

The corresponding contour plots of speed and

direction are presented in Figure 6.

As a consequence, the exemplary trajectories of a

perfect floater in the area passing through the

positions (32.5°N, 033.5°W) (solid white) and (34.0°N,

031.6°W) (dashed white) are shown in Figure 7. One

can easily observe their different intermediate

positions in the same time instants and related

destinations.

Figure 6. The contour plots of speed (left) and direction

(right) of the surface currents in the open sea area

(31°−35°N, 031°−035°W), 11 Nov. 2019, 03:00 UTC.

Figure 7. Left: a comparison of two drifting trajectories of

the floaters passing through the positions (32.5°N, 033.5°W)

(the green dot following the solid white path) and (34.0°N,

031.6°W) (the yellow dot following the dashed white path);

in the background: the colour-coded stream density plot

referring to speed of the current in knots (11 Nov. 2019,

03:00 UTC). Right: as on the left, however with the color-

coded density plot referring to direction of the currents in

the background.

Furthermore, four different ship’s routes (dashed

red in Figure 8) are considered, where the floaters are

discharged overboard in five various positions (grey

dots) along these routes.

Figure 8. The simulated drifting paths of the perfect floaters

(black) after discharging from a ship following 4 different

routes (dashed red), and starting from 5 various positions

(grey points), under the stationary currents (blue, on 11

Nov. 2019, 03:

00 UTC) in the same open sea area (31° −

35°N, 031° − 035°W). The subareas of approximated

destinations (concentrations) of the floaters are indicated

illustratively by grey ellipses; t = 480 h.

617

The related drifting paths in the same area under

consideration are obtained and presented in black

(Figure 8), being the numerically simulated simplified

trajectories of flowing seawater, i.e. the perfect

floaters. It is clear that the discharge data (situational

dependence) may cause different consequences in this

case similar to analogous real-world scenarios because

of the drift effects that vary in time and position. By

the discharge data it should be understood in practice:

time (t) and position of discharge (x0, y0), set and rate

of the current in situ as well as the significant physical

and biochemical properties of the substances (sewage,

wastewater) discharged overboard. The subareas of

simulated destinations (concentrations) of the floaters

after t = 480 h are marked illustratively by grey

ellipses in Figure 8.

3 DISCUSSION

Considering the possible harmful effects of ship

wastewater, it is important to formulate and

implement instruments that address discharges and

reduce the related risks as much as possible.

Regardless of the level of environmental regulation

developed so far (international, state, or local

regulation), discharge of sewage not treated by a

sewage treatment plant is allowed at a certain

distance. The designation of these specified distances

from the nearest land is based on the assumption that

on the high seas, the oceans can assimilate and deal

with raw sewage, and the varying

hydrometeorological sea conditions are not

considered [16].

Sea drifters are used for various applications,

including the gathering of scientific data and climate

monitoring. The above examples and simulations

show how the intermediate/final points and times of

arrival of the drifted particles depend on the

discharge data. Having this information in hand, one

can support the decision-making on sewage disposal

at sea, especially when the conditions are reliably

foreseeable. The approach depicted can also help

determine the optimized position and/or time of

potential discharge as well as the range of

propagation (boundaries) and concentration of the

contaminants in the sea areas involved.

Therefore, by applying the proposed approach

improved monitoring and management of the local

(marine and shore) environment could be achieved.

Namely, states that ratified MARPOL Annex IV need

to develop additional state and local regulations,

because passenger ships undertaking domestic

voyages, recreational boats, and fishing boats, which

are not covered by Annex IV, may represent a

significantly higher risk of sea pollution by sewage

than cruisers or cargo ships [11]. Instead of defining

specified distances, future regulations or individual

decisions on discharging procedures can be made

based on the discharge data, since the accuracy and

availability of hydrometeorological data are

constantly improving. Furthermore, better protection

of the sensitive areas could be achieved. Current

regulations allow discharge at any location provided

that an approved sewage treatment plant is used.

However, many organic micropollutants are poorly

removed by wastewater treatment plants [22], which

means that sewage treatment does not make a

significant difference when it comes to pollution by

many of the contaminants that may have serious

adverse effects. For example, a study of nine

aquaculture sites in seven European countries

revealed a potential risk of contaminants of both

legacy and emerging concern, particularly UV filters

[1]. Considering high spatial and seasonal variability

in the occurrence of UV filters and other

pharmaceuticals and personal care products related to

tourism, applying the proposed approach, which is

based on situational awareness and situation-adapted

warnings in the areas of interest, when formulating

local or regional regulations could be appropriate.

Moreover, sewage is only one of the problems

related to pollution from ships. Many of the chemical

contaminants entering the marine environment

originate from operational discharges [29]. The

MARPOL permits the discharges of noxious liquid

substances, oil, and garbage (cargo residues, food

waste, cleaning agents, and additives), provided that

discharges are made in compliance with certain

provisions. The number and quantities of discharges

into the marine environment from shipping and other

sea-based sources and the land are continuously

increasing. Concurrently, harmful effects are better

understood, and increased vulnerability of the marine

ecosystems as a result of other human activities has

been acknowledged. Therefore, there is a need to

review the regulatory control in the sense of

broadening regulated substances and/or completely

banning discharges. For example, research on the

effects of treated bilge water revealed that its

discharges would be toxic to certain organisms in the

ambient water and a higher degree of regulation

regarding surfactants has been proposed [28].

Similarly, an analysis of the chemical substance

transport from 1996 to 2016 showed that an increase

in the number of tankers and the growth of the

capacities justify reconsidering the regulations toward

banning discharges [18]. However, the availability of

port reception facilities, in many states is not adequate

[12], and coming into force of new regulation may be

a slow process. As a temporary solution at least the

discharge of chemicals under such conditions that

would enable the transport of contaminants toward

specific areas such as national parks or mariculture

sites should be prohibited. Since the current situation

concerning the flow of seawater, sea state, surface

wind or the different behaviour of discharged

chemicals in specific seawater may significantly

influence environmental disturbance [9], the

designation of “no-discharge zones” could be based

on the approach described in this article.

Finally, we need to mention that the proposed

approach fits the currently created proposals of the

new regulations and procedures in various aspects for

Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships which will occur

at sea in the near future [2]. International Maritime

Organization aims to “integrate new and advancing

technologies in the regulatory framework - balancing

the benefits derived from new and advancing

technologies against safety and security concerns, the

impact on the environment and on international trade

facilitation, the potential costs to the industry, and

their impact on personnel, both on board and ashore”.

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4 CONCLUSIONS

There is a need for revised regulatory control and

refined regulations in the context of sustainable

development in the maritime sector, as well as for

new and advancing technologies. This study depicted

the prospective concept of refinements of the regional

and local environmental regulations for the

prevention of ship-generated sewage pollution.

Contrary to the present-day approach, it takes into

consideration the actual hydrometeorological

conditions in the sense of its dynamical nature in the

areas of interest, as well as the physical- and chemical

properties of the sewage.

The examples illustrated clearly show that the

drifts modelled by different flow fields (more general,

the discharge data) yield varying destinations and

zones of contaminant concentration. This influences in

particular the fixed distances that are mentioned in

the existing regulations. As a consequence, for

instance, the difference in the initial time of discharge

from the same position in the presence of time-

varying currents yields different trajectories of drifters

and finally their location in the same period.

Accordingly, we assert that the standard

regulations based only on constant distances from the

coastline can be refined depending on the local

situation. Thus, this approach creates the background

for situation-dependent discharge standards in the

maritime sector, and the novel decision system in

which the predicted behaviour of the discharged

substances (sewage, pollutants) into the sea in the

presence of the water (wind) flow field is also

included.

Furthermore, since the new regulations are also

expected for the coming autonomous ships in

different aspects including environmental protection,

it is reasonable to consider revising the MARPOL and

the related documents to take into account the

situation-dependent regulations, at least on a local

scale. This covers in particular setting up novel and

more efficient criteria and analogues of the constant

minimum distances from the nearest land, any ice

shelf or fast ice, a reef, or other special areas.

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