While significant steps have been made in stopping regular discharges into the Great Lakes from ships, vessels continue to sweep dry cargo from their decks and into the water. Every year over the past 150 years, an estimated 2,500 tons of cargo residue have been dumped into the Lakes.

For pollutants such as ship-board sewage and greywater, there are established regulations under the Coast Guard’s Marine Sanitation Devices Requirements, the Canada Shipping Act of 2001 as well as the U.S. Clean Water Act. Oily water slops are retained onboard and then pumped to an on-shore wastewater treatment facility under Coast Guard and Transport Canada regulations. Virtually every other waste stream is now regulated under a host of state, federal and international requirements. However, across the board, monitoring and inspection of regulation compliance is dependent merely upon auditing of vessels log books. Without increased monitoring and enforcement diligence can turn to negligence very quickly.