EPA's Vessel General Permit and Small Vessel General

Annually, EPA will collect and review information on the ballast water treatment system
discharges through the electronic submittal of reports by all vessels using such systems. All
ballast water treatment systems must meet the ballast water numeric discharge limitations, as
described in the proposed VGP, which limits the number of biological organisms discharged to
waters of the U.S. In addition, EPA will monitor the following data, submitted annually by
vessel owners/operators:
� Monthly indicators of ballast water treatment system functionality.
� Annual (at minimum) calibration tests of all sensors and equipment.
� Results of analytical tests for biological indicators (i.e., total heterotrophic bacteria, E.
coli, and Enterococci) to ascertain compliance with ballast water numeric discharge
limitations.
� Results of analytical tests for residual biocides and derivatives used in the treatment
process (e.g., chlorine dioxide, chlorine, ozone, peracetic acid, and hydrogen peroxide).
Annually, EPA will collect and review information on treated graywater through the electronic
submittal of reports by large and medium-sized cruise vessels covered under the VGP.
Quarterly, cruise ship owners/operators must collect and analyze graywater samples for the
following constituents: BOD, fecal coliform, suspended solids, pH, total residual chlorine, E.
coli, TP ammonia, nitrate/nitrite, and TKN. They must submit these results to EPA on an annual
basis.
For new build vessels (constructed on or after December 19, 2013) greater than 400 gross tons
that elect to discharge bilgewater into waters subject to this permit, vessel owners/operators must
collect and analyze a sample of the bilgewater effluent for oil content; they must submit these
data electronically to EPA.
At least once annually, EPA will summarize data from Annual Reports (which include all
instances of noncompliance and unavoidable discharges authorized by the VGP) and Discharge
Monitoring Reports and provide summaries to the Services.
For copper, EPA will develop, in cooperation with the Services, and implement a monitoring and
reporting plan, within 1 year of finalization of the VGPs. The plan will contain the following
elements:
1) EPA, with the technical assistance of the Services, will identify metrics for assessing
copper loadings to waters inhabited by ESA-listed species (i.e., using the number of ships
reporting copper hull treatments in eNOIs for particular areas as a proxy).
2) EPA will compile eNOI and annual report information regarding the number and type of
vessels that use copper-based anti-fouling hull coating and/or exhaust gas scrubbers, their
home port/most frequented US port, and US ports anticipated visiting during the permit
term.
3) Twice, once by December 2014 (to summarize eNOI data) and another before EPA
transmits the next draft VGP/sVGP to OMB for interagency review (to evaluate annual
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