Ensuring the environmental safety of inland waterways by using off-board environmental technical means

Abstract

The water transport operation, its safety and the organization of the fleet on inland waterways are presented in the paper. The problem of protecting water bodies from pollution by oil products, which are contained in the ship's bottom water (NW) formed during the operation of inland navigation vessels is considered. The results of studying this problem by the authors of the paper, based on the experience of solving this problem in the field of ships operation on the inland waterways, have shown that the most expedient, and often the only possible, way to solve it is an off-vessel treatment strategy, which involves organizing the treatment of bottom-bed water using technical means, which include in general specialized floating facilities providing reception of bilge water from operating vessels, transportation and treatment. The main principles for the offshore cleaning strategy implementation are formulated. In accordance with this strategy it is proposed to consider offshore cleaning as a certain technology, the content of individual operations of which, as well as the composition of the complex of technical means that ensure the implementation of its various options, is determined by the conditions for organizing off-board cleaning on the considered sections of the waterways, which include the need to ensure safety, requirements for the disposal of treated bilge water, as well as economic efficiency. It is shown that under certain conditions it is expedient to carry out separate operations for water purification using different technical means. The main options for the composition of the complex of technical means, including autonomous floating treatment facilities, are proposed. It has been shown that the possibility of choosing the composition of technical means makes it possible to take into account the operating conditions of ships, as well as the organization of off-board cleaning, which provides an effective solution to the problem of ensuring the safety of navigation.