Cruise ships are floating cities that generate enormous volumes of waste. Every day, a typical cruise ship generates 30,000 gallons of sewage, 250,000 gallons of graywater (wastewater from galleys, showers, sinks and laundry) and 5,000 gallons of oily bilge water. Sampling of cruise ship graywater and treated sewage has shown that these wastes contain high concentrations of bacteria, heavy metals, nutrients, and other pollutants. Bilge water, which collects in the bottom of ships, contains oil and chemicals from engine maintenance that are toxic to marine life. Cruise ships also generate significant quantities of garbage and hazardous waste, which they burn in onboard incinerators. This incineration is a significant source of toxic air contaminants. Furthermore, cruise ships burn huge amounts of dirty, tar-like bunker fuel that pollutes our air. Each day in port, a single cruise ship generates air pollution equal to that of 12,000 cars.

Channelkeeper is concerned about cruise ship pollution because the cruise industry has a large and rapidly growing presence in California waters. The cruise industry has been growing by an astounding eight percent per year for the past several years, and the number of cruise ships operating in California waters is expected to increase significantly over the next decade. The industry is constructing several new and ever larger ships, many of which can carry more than 5,000 people, to be added to the North American fleet in the next few years. The cruise industry is actively seeking new ports of call to send these ships, including Santa Barbara.

Cruise ships have been found responsible for more than 300 acts of dumping oil, garbage, hazardous waste, sewage and graywater in the past ten years, and have paid more than $80 million in fines and restitution. Fifty-five of these incidents occurred in California.

In recognition of this growing threat to the state's waters, the California Legislature has recently passed several laws that prohibit cruise ships from dumping sewage, sewage sludge, graywater, hazardous waste and oily bilge water, and from operating their onboard garbage incinerators, within three miles of the California coast.

While these prohibitions are now required by law, monitoring and enforcement to ensure that cruise ships comply will unfortunately continue to be limited. Channelkeeper has been meeting with and educating local decision-makers and citizens about cruise ship pollution issues, and when a cruise ship comes to Santa Barbara, we get out on the water on our own boat, the Magic, and monitor the cruise ship's activities, collecting and analyzing samples of the water surrounding the ship at intervals throughout the day. We are striving to ensure that our waters are not being used as a dumping ground for the titanic amounts of waste generated aboard these ships.