PORT OF SEATTLE 
MEMORANDUM 
COMMISSION AGENDA             Item No.      9c 
Date of Meeting    October 27, 2009 
DATE:    October 16, 2009 
TO:      Tay Yoshitani, Chief Executive Officer 
FROM:    Stephanie Jones Stebbins, Senior Manager, Seaport Environmental Programs 
SUBJECT:  Cruise Ship Lines Memorandum of Understanding and 2008 Assessment of
Cruise Ship Environmental Effects inWashington 
BACKGROUND 
Cruise Memorandum of Understanding.
A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Washington Department of Ecology, the
Northwest Cruise Ship Association (NWCA) and the Port of Seattle (POS) was signed on April
20, 2004. This MOU covers the large passenger vessels that are members of the NWCA, and
either homeport or conduct a "port of call" at the POS cruise terminals. The MOU prohibits the
discharge of both black and gray waters to Washington waters from all cruise ships except
discharges treated with advanced wastewater treatment systems (AWTS) that have been
approved for discharge by the Department of Ecology. After each cruise season, a meeting is
conducted between the MOU stakeholders to review the cruise season and assess the
environmental effects and determine if any amendments are appropriate to meeting the goal of
protecting Washington's waters from cruise ship discharges. The MOU has been amendedeach
year as the result of this meeting. The MOU amendments discussed in the January, 2009 meeting
were finalized on May 19, 2009. The amendments included the following Washington State
Department of Health recommendation: no discharge of AWTS treated gray water within a half a
mile of shellfish beds; defining a "virus and disinfection upset condition" that would require no
discharges. An MOU amendment also requires whole effluent toxicity (WET) testing for only
those vessels that have submitted documentation for continuous AWTS discharge. In the 2008
season, only two vessels submitted documentation of continuous discharge. 
Ecology's 2008 Assessment of Cruise Ship Environmental Effects in Washington concluded that
the "MOU continues to be a valuable tool in meeting the goal of protecting Washington's marine
waters from cruise ship wastewater." The cruise lines and vessels operating within the MOU
were in compliance throughout the season. The sampling results for the conventional pollutants
continue to show excellent effluent quality. One cruise line did not conduct the required WET
test for its continuous AWTS discharge, but that cruise line's vessel did not discharge to
Washington's waters in 2008. Ecology recommends that the MOUcontinue to be used as a
complement to environmental regulations until state specific waste management regulations for
cruise ships are put in place.