Environmentalists: Cruise ships using British Columbia waters as 'toilet bowl'

The following appeared in USA Today:

Are cruise ships sailing to and from Alaska dumping an inordinate amount of their waste in the waters off Canada?

That's the charge today from Canadian environmentalists quoted in the Vancouver Sun who say cruise lines are avoiding stringent U.S. regulations on the dumping of sewage and "gray water" (from showers and sinks) by discharging it off the coast of British Columbia. "Cruise ship companies are taking advantage of Canada's weaker laws on sewage discharge to save money," Friends of the Earth Canada chief executive Beatrice Olivastri tells the news outlet. "It is bizarre that B.C. residents should bear the burden of cruise ship pollution from well-heeled tourists."

The story quotes one longtime cruise industry critic based in Canada, Ross Klein, as saying British Columbia is now "the toilet bowl of the West Coast of North America." A Canadian government official notes sewage from ships must be treated before being discharged off the country's coast.

About two dozen large cruise ships operated by Princess Cruises, Holland America, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity Cruises and several other major lines pass through British Columbia waters weekly during the summer on their way to and from Alaska from Seattle and Vancouver, B.C.

As usual, there's always another side to the story. I've included a couple of posts from commentors on the USA Today piece. First from "OnAnIsland":

"If all the sewage from all 24 ships was dumped raw, it would not compare to the effluent in the Fraser river which discharges its waste through Vancouver BC. Environmental restrictions in this part of Canada are very lax due to the profit from the pulp and ore industries located upstream. At the confluence with the Thompson River, the water from the Fraser will start eating you alive and has been credited with deformations of many of the Salmon that spawn further upstream. As a guide on the Thompson, I will not even let my passengers step into any water polluted by the Fraser. Vancouver has been living with this for decades so the 12 or so cruise ships that do dock in Vancouver (the rest dock in Seattle and use American waters for most of their trip) should not have much to complain about."

And finally from "Captain Rick":

"The Canadians are dummies. If they have a problem with water dumping, then tighten up their laws. Easy. Also, if they don't want the sewage, then ban the ships from coming into their ports. Let their local merchants scream that their provincial government is screwing them. Effluent from a ship comes out cleaner then from municipal treatments plants. In the long run, it's the Canadians' fault for falling in with the British during and after the American Revolution. We gave them a chance but they blew it."

You can't make this stuff up!