As the cruise ship industry has expanded over the past several years, the concern over potential impacts on water quality from this industry has grown. Today, the worldwide cruise ship fleet includes more than 230 ships. More than 7.6 million North Americans took cruises in 2002.

Cruise ships are literally floating cities; individual vessels of 3,000 passengers and crew are not uncommon. These vessels typically visit a number of ports, offer many services to their passengers, and operate in ocean and coastal waters.

Some of the discharges generated by cruise ships include bilge water, sewage, gray water (wastewater from showers, sinks, laundries and baths), ballast water, solid waste (food waste and garbage), and chemicals from photo processing, dry cleaning and paint. There is significant concern about the environmental impacts of these discharges.

EPA's activities addressing cruise ship discharges include:

Cruise Ship Discharge Assessment Report
A report (in preparation) that will assess the characteristics, amounts, and impacts of cruise ship discharges.

Sewage and Gray Water Standards Development
Developing standards for discharges of sewage and gray water from cruise ships operating in the waters of Alaska.

Plume Tracking Study
A survey conducted in August 2001 to estimate the dilution of cruise ship discharges into receiving waters.

Public Hearings
Three regional hearings conducted in September 2000 to gather information regarding discharges from cruise ships.

Hazardous Waste Tracking System
A system developed by EPA and the States for assigning one hazardous waste tracking number to each cruise ship that all States would recognize.