Section 13 in The Merchant Shipping (Control of Pollution by Noxious Liquid Substances in Bulk) Rules, 2010
13. Control of discharges of residues of noxious liquid substances.
- Subject to the provisions of rule 3, the control of discharges of residues of noxious liquid substances or ballast water, tank washings or other mixtures containing such substances shall be in compliance with the following requirements, namely:-(a)Discharge provisions-(i)the discharge into the sea of residues of substances assigned to Category X, Y or Z or of those provisionally assessed as such or ballast water tank washings or other mixtures containing such substances shall be prohibited unless such discharges are made in full compliance with the applicable operational requirements contained in these rules;(ii)before any pre-wash or discharge procedure is carried out in accordance with this rule, the relevant tank shall be emptied to the maximum extent in accordance with the procedures specified in the Manual;(iii)The carriage of substances which have not been categorised, provisionally assessed or evaluated as referred to in rule 6 or of ballast water, tank washings or other mixtures containing such residues shall be prohibited along with any consequential discharge of such substances into the sea;(b)Discharge standards-(i)where the provisions of this rule allow the discharge into the sea of residues of substances in Category X, Y or Z or of those provisionally assessed as such or ballast water, tank washings or other mixtures containing such substances, the following discharge standards shall apply, namely:-(A)the ship is proceeding en route at a speed of at least seven knots in the case of self-propelled ships or at least four knots in the case of ships which are not self-propelled;(B)the discharge is made below the waterline through the underwater discharge outlet not exceeding the maximum rate for which the underwater discharge outlet is designed; and(C)the discharge is made at a distance of not less than twelve nautical miles from the nearest land in a depth of water of not less than twenty-five inetres;(ii)for ships constructed before lsl January, 2007, the discharge into the sea of residues of substances in Category Z or of those provisionally assessed as such or ballast water, tank washings or other mixtures containing such substances below the waterline is not mandatory;(iii)the Central Government may waive the requirements of item (C) of sub-clause (i) of clause (b) above, for substances in Category Z, regarding the distance of not less than twelve nautical miles from the nearest land for ships solely engaged in voyages within waters subject to the sovereignty or jurisdiction of the State the flag, of which, the ship is entitled to fly and the Central Government may also waive the same requirements regarding the discharge distance of not less than twelve nautical miles from the nearest land for a particular ship entitled to fly the flag of their State, when engaged in voyages within waters subject to the sovereignty or jurisdiction of one adjacent State after the establishment of an agreement, in writing, of a waiver between the two coastal States involved provided that no third party will be affected:Provided that information on such agreement shall be communicated to the Organization within thirty days for further circulation to the State Parties for their information and appropriate action if any.(c)Ventilation of cargo residues - Ventilation procedures approved by the Central Government may be used to remove cargo residues from a tank and such procedures shall be in accordance with Schedule-V:Provided that any water subsequently introduced into the tank shall be regarded as clean and shall not be subject to the discharge requirements of these rules.(d)Exemption for a pre-wash - On request of the ship's master, an exemption for a pre-wash may be granted by the Central Government, where it is satisfied that-(i)the unloaded tank is to be reloaded with the same substance or another substance compatible with the previous one and that the tank will not be washed or ballasted prior to loading; or(ii)the unloaded tank is neither washed nor ballasted at sea and the pre-wash, in accordance with the applicable rule shall be carried out at another port provided that it has been confirmed in writing that a reception facility at that port is available and is adequate for such a purpose; or(iii)the cargo residues shall be removed by a ventilation procedure approved by the Central Government in accordance with Schedule-V;(e)the use of cleaning agents or additives-(i)when a washing medium other than water, such as mineral oil or chlorinated solvent, is used instead of water to wash a tank, its discharge shall be governed by the provisions of the Merchant Shipping (Prevention of Pollution by Oil from Ships) Rules, 2009 or, as the case may be, these rules, which would apply to the medium had it been carried as cargo:Provided that tank washing procedures involving the use of such a medium shall be set out in the Manual approved by the Central Government;(ii)when small amounts of cleaning additives (detergent products) are added to, water in order to facilitate tank washing, no additives containing Pollution Category X components shall be used except those components that are readily biodegradable and present in a total concentration of less than ten per cent, of the cleaning additive:Provided that no restrictions, in addition to those applicable to the tank due to the previous cargo, shall apply;(f)discharge of residues of Category X-(i)Subject to the provisions of clause (a), the following provisions shall apply, namely:-(A)a tank from Which a substance in Category X has been unloaded, shall be prewashed before the ship leaves the port of unloading and the resulting residues shall be discharged to a reception facility until the concentration of the substance in the effluent to such facility, as indicated by analyses of samples of the effluent taken by the surveyor, is at or below 0.1% by weight and when the required concentration level has been achieved, remaining tank washings shall continue to be discharged to the reception facility until the tank is empty:Provided that appropriate entries of these operations shall be made in the Cargo Record Book and endorsed by the surveyor or the authorised person referred to in sub-rule (1) of rule 16;(B)any water subsequently introduced into the tank may be discharged into the sea in accordance with the discharge standards in clause (b) above;(C)where the Central Government is satisfied that it is impracticable to measure the concentration of the substance in the effluent without causing undue delay to the ship, then it may accept an alternative procedure as being equivalent to obtain the required concentration in item (A) of sub-clause (i) of clause (f) provided that-(I)the tank is pre-washed in accordance with a procedure approved by the Central Government in compliance with Schedule-IV; and(II)appropriate entries shall be made in the Cargo Record Book and endorsed by the surveyor or the authorised person referred to in sub-rule (1) of rule 16;(g)Discharge of residues of Category Y and Z-subject to the provision of clause (a), the following provisions shall apply-(A)with respect to the residue discharge procedures for substances in Category Y or Z, the discharge standards in clause (b) shall apply;(B)if the unloading of a substance of Category Y or Z is not carried out in accordance with the Manual, a pre-wash shall be carried out before the ship leaves the port of unloading, unless alternative measures are taken to the satisfaction of the surveyor or the authorised person referred to in sub-rule (1) of rule 16 to remove the cargo residues from the ship to quantities specified in this rule and the resulting tank washings of the pre-wash shall be discharged to a reception facility at the port of unloading or another port with a suitable reception facility:Provided that it has been confirmed in writing that a reception facility at that port is available and is adequate for such a purpose;(C)for high-viscosity or solidifying substances in Category Y, the following shall apply, namely:-(I)a pre-wash procedure as specified in Schedule-IV shall be applied;(II)the residue/water mixture generated during the pre-wash shall be discharged to a reception facility until the tank is empty; and(III)any water subsequently introduced into the tank may be discharged into the sea in accordance with the discharge standards in clause (b);(h)Operational requirements for ballasting and de-ballasting(i)alter unloading, and, if required, after a pre-wash, a cargo tank may be ballasted and procedures for die discharge of such ballast shall be as provided in clause (b);(ii)ballast introduced into a cargo tank which has been washed to such an extent that the ballast contains less than 1 ppm of the substance previously carried, may be discharged into the sea without regard to the discharge rate, ship's speed and discharge outlet location:Provided that the ship is not less than twelve nautical miles from the nearest land and in water that is not less than twenty-five metres deep and the required degree of cleanliness has been achieved when a pre-wash as specified in Schedule-IV has been carried out and the tank has been subsequently washed with a complete cycle of the cleaning machine for ships built before 1st July, 1994 or with a water quantity not less than that calculated with k = 1.0;(iii)the discharge into the sea of clean or segregated ballast shall not be subject to the requirements of these rules;(i)Discharges in the Antarctic Area-(A)Antarctic Area means the sea area south of latitude 60°S;(B)in the Antarctic Area any discharge into the sea of noxious liquid substances or mixtures containing such substances is prohibited.
