Yacht water treatment: Expert tips

• Mark Beavis
• Managing Director
• +420 72 40 11 77 5

Why is efficient wastewater treatment imperative to superyacht operations?

The introduction of new wastewater discharge regulations could have a significant impact on the operation of superyachts with a complement of 12 or more, especially those embarking on expedition-type cruises or visiting ecologically sensitive areas.

Resolution MEPC 227 (64), which entered into force in January 2016, changed previous rules governing the performance of on-board water treatment plant. Specifically, it ruled that the nitrogen content of the discharged wastewater must be less than 10mg/l while phosphorous content cannot exceed 0.5mg/l.

Why upgrade your plant?

Those that have not upgraded their superyacht water treatment systems to meet the revised rules could be limited in their scope of operation. Operations could be prohibited in ecologically sensitive areas such as the Southern Ocean, the Amazon, and the Baltic and Bering seas.

With regulatory enforcement possibly impacting the installation of anything other than membrane bioreactor -type systems, yachts could find themselves in a situation where they are prohibited from sailing in some parts of the world.

A challenging dilemma

Wastewater management on superyachts is a challenging dilemma often not addressed early enough in the design stage. Compromises can be forced on designers and manufacturers alike to propose and install a solution that has a higher risk of failure. This, in turn, may then directly impact the vessels operational flexibility.

How can yacht operators be compliant?

As the leading provider of bespoke wastewater management solutions to the superyacht sector, ACO Marine’s approved Advanced MBR Maripur NF sewage treatment system is a ‘future-proofed’ solution capable of meeting all current and anticipated wastewater discharge legislation.

ACO Marine is an ISO 9001:2000 approved company, and, where necessary, all of its products are IMO (International Maritime Organisation) and MED (Marine Equipment Directive) approved, and independently certified by DGUV and Bureau Veritas (the German and French equivalent of Lloyd’s certification).

Wastewater treatment is extremely important to the yacht market. Superyachts typically treat a substantial amount of water and have 100% system redundancy but luxury yacht owners and operators must start evaluating the performance of their current systems in order to make sure they are compliant.