Basic HTML Version
SOP1 – Ballast Operations
4
2.0 SOP 1 - Ballast Systems Operation
Version 2.0
Date of Issuance: June 27, 2012
Author: George Smith
2.1. Overview
The facility manager and at least one other MERC staff member are trained in operating the
ballast system. At least one trained lead is required on site as person in charge of ballast
operations. Others may assist as required.
Start the day with an operations meeting of MERC personnel and any visiting treatment system
operators prior to start up of any ballast water movements or management. Inform what the
event is and what pressures, flows, and volumes of water are expected to be moved, sampled,
and monitored. The goal is to ensure staff understand any exceptions or differences between this
particular event and past events.
Valve position and pump setting govern ballast water movement on the mobile test platform. The
system is variably configured for the various operational modes available. Prior to energizing a
pump or pumps the configuration is double-checked both visually and by referencing computer
display guidance of the integrated monitoring and control (IMAC) system. Ballast pumps are not
to be run until water path (valve line up) for the intended operation is twice confirmed as correct.
IMAC employs industrial process software (
Cimplicity
) to provide a graphic/numerical user-
interface for pipe and pump set-up as well as to initiate logging, plus manage, store, and present
logged data on flow-rates, pressures, volumes, sampling, challenge condition modification, and
valve-position. Depending upon the parameter, logging occurs in 15-second to one-minute
intervals. IMAC systems aid in management of industrial plants and ships. In the case of MERC,
IMAC control terminals (laptops suited for extreme conditions) are deployed on cables from four
Ethernet ports located around the pump and pipes assembly and in the ballast sampling area.
Operators and samplers with password-protected logins gain access to relevant sectors of IMAC
capacity and function. In an emergency, should IMAC not function, ballast operations are still
possible with backup controls in the form of touch-pads located in NEMA-4 boxes on the
catwalk above the pumps. Our protocol includes maintenance of written data and QA/QC sheets
sufficient to record values of key parameters during every event to both backup and supplement
data recorded by IMAC. Consequently, in event of a computer glitch a valid test is still feasible
via these written logs of ballast operations (see figs 2.1 – 2.5). In addition, valve-position tables
and piping diagram screen-shots are available as printed set-up guides (figures 2.1 to 2.5) if
computers are down and an operation cannot be delayed. Obvious pump emergency stops are
located by each pump.
Two 310 m
3
tanks, #2 (forward) and #1 (aft), and two pumps of 310 m
3
hr
-1
capacities are
mounted on the testing platform. Pump-2 (the lower) fills and drains the #2 or forward tank,
while pump-1 (the upper) fills and drains the #1 or aft tank. To help minimize any potential risk
of contaminating test results Tank-1 is consistently used as ‘Control’ and is filled with water that
has not been treated to remove or deactivate the biota and tank-2 is used for ‘Treatment’ and is