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Background
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Certification/verification testing, i.e., formal assessment of performance against IMO, USCG
and other discharge standards.
The fundamental approach of MERC testing is to conduct independent, scientifically-sound,
rigorous, and quality assured evaluations of ballast water treatment system performance under
controlled experimental conditions. In addition, MERC tests are directly relevant to regulatory
processes including the IMO Convention, state law, and federal requirements under development
in the United States. To that end, MERC protocols, challenge conditions and testing
infrastructure (e.g. flow rate, retention tank size, sample size, sample collection and analysis
equipment and data logging) are based on the essential features of the IMO G8 guidelines for
testing, and the ETV) protocols. MERC testing also can be adapted to address other possible
benchmarks such as stricter performance standards or non-regulatory end-points.
Systems that will be tested under MERC will be capable of treating the entire discharge or ballast
water volume for biological organisms, either through a one-step treatment process or through
multi-step treatment processes, and will be capable of treating a wide range of source water
typical of ballast uplifted from fresh, coastal, estuarine and/or marine origins. These technologies
may be mechanical, chemical, physical or biological in nature or a combination of any of the
technologies. Treatment systems or components of systems that provide only partial treatment of
the discharge can be evaluated as separate demonstration exercises but are excluded from full
certification testing. The factors that are verified during BWTS testing include: biological
treatment performance, operation and maintenance, predictability/reliability, cost factors,
environmental acceptability, and safety. In performing a BWTS test MERC follows the technical
and QA procedures specified in this QAPP and complies with the data quality requirements in
the MERC QMP.