Vista, California, November 30, 2012 —The backdrop of the conference held November 14- 16, 2012 is the 2004 Ballast Water Convention (BW Treaty 2004) is close to ratification but certain obstacles are delaying it. The conference gathered the key global ballast water leaders of the last decade, with the aim of bringing more clarity into the practical implementation of the BW Treaty at all levels from the International Maritime Organization (IMO), to port administrations, and to the ship owners and operators who will need to install ballast water treatment systems onboard every single ship in their fleet.

The theme of the International Conference on Ballast Water Management 2012 (ICBWM2012) was “Operational Experiences of Ballast Water Treatment Systems”, and thus the meeting was a market review and latest facts.

The ICBWM2012 covered ballast water treatment systems (BWTS) in great detail; the selection criteria for end users, installation and commissioning experiences (new builds vs. retrofitting), experiences in onboard operations, experiences in onboard monitoring and control, and sediment management in shipyards (these sediments collect in the ballast compartment of ships).

Assure Controls was included in the Final Program in two sections:

Day 1: Environmental Risks of Ballast Water Treatment Systems:
“Do ballast water discharges meet proposed toxicity standards?” This presentation by Scott Smith, USGS, Seattle

Day 3: Monitoring and Sampling Technologies:
“Risk assessment of ballast water management systems using rapid toxicity Tests.” This presentation by Dr. Stefan Kools from Grontmij, The Netherlands.

While USGS participates on the highest scientific levels, pragmatic and realistic testing in cost effective and short intervals is lacking for the management of maritime vessels and surrounding environments. USGS has evaluated the available science and technical tools and determined that Assure Controls can assimilate additional parameters into their existing product platform. Assure Controls optimizes technologies in productized combinations with the goal to lower costs and complexity of essential water quality testing.  Assure Controls has evaluated industry requirements and determined that USGS has specific core competencies and insights which will lead to better testing tools. These may be novel inventions, new combinations, or refinements of technical solutions.

The CRADA formalizes collaboration between USGS and Assure Controls to create new tests, novel methods, and guidance via best practices based on measured risk mitigation for marine ecological nuisance species and industry practices used to address them. Because of their specialization and expertise on aquatic ecosystems, the Western Fisheries Research Center will be responsible for the collaborative effort.

More about USGS:

http://www.usgs.gov/water/

More about the Western Fisheries Research Center:

http://wfrc.usgs.gov/

Three rounds of testing over subsequent weeks were done in collaboration with Instituto Politécnico Nacional (National Polytechnic Institute, IPN) and completed in September. Over 100 rapid toxicity tests were conducted and compared to non-affected control groups. The samples were taken at sea with a boat on land with bailer-type screened collection tube. Results were analyzed after a 24 hour exposure period. 

Over 100 on site samples were made of ocean and beach areas where currents likely transported any of the floating oil. The remote area has strong currents, significant wave activity and beautiful scenery. It is home to many types of marine life including numerous sea turtles.

No widespread environmental effects were seen during initial visual observations, however some oil remnants were present at wave watermarks on some beaches; these were removed by cleanup crews who worked the miles of sand. There was no evidence of biological harm in the marine environment warranting continuous monitoring or testing. Certain sites had test results which were indicated to be noteworthy for additional review over time, but nothing attributable to the small accident.

Visit The Maritime Alliance at: http://www.themaritimealliance.org

More information on Pôle Mer PACA at: http://www.polemerpaca.com

As a forward thinking engineering consultancy, Grontmij combines multidisciplinary approaches to deliver innovative, sustainable and cost-effective solutions to their clients in ballast water treatment design and validation.

Assure Controls will provide instrumentation and biological test kits for rapid toxicity assessments, essentially the marine environment in a box, which can be used to determine treatment systems effectiveness within four hours versus a more expensive and lengthy laboratory analysis.

For example, neutralization agents used in several ballast water treatment systems vary in their effectiveness. By using this rapid test method, the manufacturer’s specified biocide treatment process and specified neutralization agent can be assessed immediately (shipboard if desired) after the recommended neutralization time period. This allows a fast verification of “discharge ready” treated water. During the treatment system’s design phase, this testing can accelerate modifications. During vessel operations, the test indicates compliance that no toxic residuals have resulted from the treatment, ensuring environmentally sound practices.

Since over 50,000 vessels in the next few years will install ballast water treatment systems, the work between Assure Controls and Grontmij provides valuable information on the amount and type of neutralization agents, and the recommended neutralization times. These variables can be optimized, for the best dose-treatment-neutralization process to meet requirements. This provides a cost effective and easy to use test method.

More about Grontmij: http://www.grontmij.com/ABOUTGRONTMIJ/Pages/Mission.aspx

With the IMO Ballast Water treaty nearing ratification (BWC 2004), the Forum provided an open debate between some of the world’s largest maritime organizations involved in shipping, ship building and design, maritime R&D institutes, technology developers, environmental organizations and academia to discuss the cutting edge issues in ballast water management.  Representatives from dozens of countries attended, providing dialogue amongst all essential parties; perhaps the most concise and specific group ever assembled, at exactly the right time; to discuss ballast water treatment issues and how they will be addressed.

Assure Controls representatives attended to participate in this world class review of latest treatment techniques, testing methods, and port authority compliance strategies.

The Forum concluded that considerable progress has been achieved in terms of developing robust tools for indicative analysis of ballast water for compliance monitoring and enforcement purposes.  In addition, the summary statements encouraged acceleration of efforts to harmonize test procedures by test facilities, and share this with the international community.  It was reinforced that Type Testing certification is not the same as Port State Control compliance monitoring.  Ship owners were alerted to the impending requirements and urged to get actively engaged in preparations that will provide effective ballast water treatment, management, testing and compliant activities.

Vista, California, September 13, 2011 — In the summer of 2011, a research team of environmental experts conducted the largest of its kind sampling and testing program of 100 wells located on private land in areas near hydraulic fracturing operations. Assure Controls has co-sponsored the study, which utilized the field deployable QwikLite Biosensor System. For all wells sampled, rapid water quality assessments were conducted, and the relationship of toxicity and increasing levels of chemical constituents was examined. The evaluation used geospatial and statistical analysis to examine correlations between hydraulic fracturing and toxicity and chemical composition of private well water.

The testing is in collaboration with the University of Texas at Arlington, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry; where rapid initial indications of the presence and the severity of potentially harmful contaminants (organic, inorganic or metals) are evaluated in the study. Further laboratory work includes toxicity identification evaluation (TIE), to establish the potential cause or specific compounds and their biological toxicity level over extended exposures. The laboratory work consists of analytical and discriminatory chemical analysis, on the selected non-native chemical compounds found in industrial fracking fluids, which have not previously been assessed in this manner.

The effects of hydraulic fracturing on the quality of groundwater remain largely unknown and have sparked considerable debate. Sampling took place from July to October 2011, in the geologic area known as the Barnett Shale. The researchers have significant expertise in federal, state regulations, ecotoxicology, and environmental sciences. The results on this largest scientific study to date on groundwater effects due to neighboring drilling and hydraulic fracturing will be analyzed and submitted for peer review publication in the Spring of 2012.

Contact Assure Controls                                Contact Texas Well Study

Christi Sodano                                                  txwellstudy@gmail.com
p: 760.505.3000 x201                                        Visit the Site               
f: 760.306.7872
csodano@assurecontrols.com

www.AssureControls.com

Scientists from the College of Marine Science, University of South Florida; continue their testing of hundreds of water samples aboard the research vessel, Weatherbird II.  Extensive Gulf Oil Spill sampling and testing cruises have continued throughout the year, with onboard toxicity testing using the QwikLite Biosensor System.

"A sensitive live species is valuable in determination of marine toxicity” stated David E. John, Ph.D. “The ability to perform shipboard toxicity testing is a major advantage over laboratory methods, which are more expensive and take several days to get results.” QwikLite uses sensitive marine plankton as a "biosensor" of harmful contaminants in water. In the presence of contaminants the natural bioluminescence is inhibited, and QwikLite measures this effect, essentially quantifying the toxicity to the marine environment. The biological cartridges from Assure Controls provide a standardized, easy to use, and rapid response necessary for biological toxicity testing.

The next sampling cruise will be in early May, adding to the understanding of the Gulf Oil Spill with several tests performed each day. The toxicity data will be used along with other types of tests also performed by the scientists.

The toxicity test method was developed by the US Navy, and licensed by Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Pacific (SSC Pacific) to Assure Controls, which developed the QwikLite 200 Biosensor System.

Assure Controls is a product development and marketing company with assessment technologies that reduce the time, cost, and complexity of water quality testing. Assure is headquartered in Vista, California.