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Key
West is cracking down on cruise ships
Friday, January 09, 2004
By
Associated Press
KEY WEST, Florida —
Key West's city commission has asked cruise ships that dock in this
island to pump their wastewater into the local sewage system instead of
dumping it offshore.
Mayor Jimmy Weekley
said water quality is critical to the sensitive ecosystem around the
Florida Keys, home to the United States' only tropical marine preserve.
"The U.S. Navy is
willing to pump out and cruise ships need to pump out," Weekley said
during a meeting earlier this week. "If cruise ships can't do that,
maybe they should go somewhere else. It's a detriment to the
environment."
Cruise ships dump
thousands of gallons of wastewater into the ocean during a voyage. Under
requirements of the federal Clean Water Act, cruise ships can dump when
they are at least three miles offshore. Locally, cruise ship companies
pump out at least 12 miles offshore, cruise ship representatives have
said.
Michael Crye,
president of the International Council of Cruise Lines, an industry
group, said many cruise ships use treatment systems that produce water
clean enough for people to drink, so it doesn't make sense to put it
into the municipal wastewater system.
Ships without those
advanced treatment systems still exceed the requirements of the Clean
Water Act and studies have shown that dumping under the act's guidelines
has little or no impact on ocean water quality, Crye said Thursday.
"There is little if
any environmental gain" from Key West's proposal, he said.
The proposal calls
for ships docking in Key West to pay 5 cents a gallon to pump into the
sewage system. But it could be difficult to order cruise ships to
refrain from releasing wastewater between a prior port and Key West,
Port Director Raymond Archer said.
"The intent is
admirable and we support it, but there are a lot of unknowns right now,"
Archer said. "We need to create and adopt a policy and way of enacting
it."
Also, only one of
the city's three cruise ship piers has a pumping station. Weekley said
it could take up to a year to have all the piers ready for cruise ship
pumping. He asked City Manager Julio Avael to negotiate the proposal
with cruise lines.
The proposal was
made during a successful vote to raise passenger fees from $8 to $10.63
for each person who disembarks in Key West.
Source: Associated
Press |
