How Alaska checks cruise ship wastewater

Cruise ships in downtown Juneau on Thursday, July 16, 2026. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Independent)

By Randy Bates

When Alaskans hear that a wastewater treatment facility has exceeded a permit limit, it is reasonable to ask: What happened? Did the system fail? How did regulators know? And what is being done to fix it?

Those are the right questions. Environmental protection is not about assuming that a permitted facility will never have a problem. It is about having a system that identifies problems, requires corrective action, and verifies that those corrections work.

That is how Alaska’s wastewater regulatory system is designed to work, whether the facility serves a community on land or is a cruise ship traveling through our waters.

As another cruise season comes to a close in Alaska, it is a good time to ask another straightforward question: How does Alaska make sure cruise ships are meeting our wastewater requirements?

Before each season, DEC staff review Vessel-Specific Sampling Plans to ensure they provide the information necessary to contact, monitor, and appropriately sample each vessel.

Cruise ships authorized to discharge treated sewage and greywater (water from sinks, showers, and laundry) must meet Alaska’s wastewater requirements and document their compliance. Independent laboratories collect and analyze compliance samples. Vessel operators submit laboratory results, daily discharge logs, and location reports showing what was discharged, when, and where. DEC reviews those results and the accompanying records throughout the season.

The vessel operators must also notify DEC when monitoring identifies a compliance problem.

Required self-monitoring and reporting are central to wastewater regulation across the country. Operators must measure and report their discharges, while regulators review those results and use inspections to verify compliance. Laboratory testing and required reporting provide a continuing picture of how a wastewater treatment system is performing between inspections.

Inspections are another important part of the regulatory system. Prior to an onboard inspection, DEC staff have already reviewed the compliance results to date and have noted any areas of concern for discussion. Once DEC inspectors go aboard, they examine wastewater treatment equipment, piping, discharge controls, sampling locations, and maintenance records. They verify that the systems and practices aboard a vessel are consistent with the information provided to the department and that sampling locations accurately represent the wastewater being discharged.

This year, DEC adjusted its routine inspection schedule for large cruise ships to better align with the broader wastewater oversight approach and frequency used for other major wastewater facilities, including publicly owned community treatment plants. DEC now conducts routine onboard inspections at least once every two years. That schedule is a baseline, not a limit on DEC’s daily review of cruise ship discharges or its broader oversight. The change does not relax cruise ships’ discharge limits or their obligation to document compliance.

Monitoring results, complaints, inspection findings, or other information can prompt DEC to conduct additional inspections or investigations when warranted. When a result exceeds a permit limit or other information raises a compliance concern, DEC can require corrective action and review subsequent monitoring and documentation to determine whether the problem has been resolved.

In other words, a DEC inspector does not have to be standing beside a discharge for the department to know when there may be a problem.

When a problem is identified, DEC responds without waiting for the next routine inspection.

Another question we have received concerns exhaust gas cleaning systems, commonly called scrubbers. These systems remove pollutants from ship exhaust and can produce wastewater.

Scrubber wastewater and treated sewage and greywater are separate waste streams governed by different permits. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency administers the federal requirements for scrubber wastewater discharges, while DEC administers Alaska’s permit for treated sewage and greywater from large cruise ships.

DEC has therefore focused its routine cruise ship wastewater inspections on the discharges regulated under the state’s wastewater permit. That does not mean scrubber discharges are unregulated, nor does it limit DEC’s ability to address water-quality concerns within its jurisdiction.

Alaskans can see this work for themselves. DEC makes inspection reports, compliance letters, and notices of violation available through its Environmental Data Management System. Our cruise ship public resources page explains how to access those records.

Our responsibility is straightforward: protect Alaska’s waters, know what is being discharged into them, identify problems when they occur, and make sure they are corrected. The tools we use to do that will continue to evolve as we learn what works best. But our expectation remains the same for every permitted wastewater discharger: meet Alaska’s requirements, be accountable for your discharge, and protect Alaska’s waters.

• Randy Bates is the commissioner of the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation.