UV treatment could disinfect ballast water
A north Queensland researcher believes ultraviolet light could hold the key to safely disinfecting ballast water in a bid to prevent foreign organisms from infecting Australian ports.
Environmental engineer Darren Oemcke is presenting a paper on his research to a marine symposium in Boston this week.
Mr Oemcke says onboard and mainland treatment plants could be set up to purify, contaminated ballast water.
"It's possible that plants will sell treated ballast water to ships and they take a treated ballast water when they leave and discharge a safe ballast water when they load cargo," he said.
"For other parts of the industry, it seems more likely that they'll look at putting ballast water plants on board ships to treat the ballast water when it's pumped on board."