Cruise lines are cleaning up their act, thanks to tougher state legislation and industry initiatives

After a state task force report found that pollutants "are routinely discharged from vessels into California's coastal waters," the state passed legislation that prohibits dumping of sewage sludge, hazardous materials, and bilge water containing oil, and instructs California's Environmental Protection Agency to ask the federal government to prohibit all such discharges within the state's national marine sanctuaries. Although the laws do not include limits on the expulsion of blackwater (from toilets) or graywater (from sinks, showers, and laundry), many see this as an important first step.

Democratic state assembly member Joe Simitian, a sponsor of the bill, says, "Ultimately, 'Trust us' is not a sound environmental policy. We have to have laws on the books to protect us from the worst of the industry while allowing the best to keep doing business."

California's decision followed Alaska's groundbreaking legislation. In 1999, a number of high-profile pollution cases had just been settled, including a suit against Royal Caribbean, which paid $26 million in fines for dumping hazardous wastes and for discharging oily water rather than running it through filters. Soon after, the Alaska Cruise Ship Initiative was launched to review the effectiveness of federal laws that regulate vessels in U.S. waters. These laws allow untreated graywater to be dumped anywhere, although ships longer than 65 feet must have a marine sanitation device (MSD) to filter out sewage before blackwater is discharged.

The state tested wastewater samples during the summer of 2000 and got surprising results: "None of the MSDs were working as they should have been," says Denise Koch, of Alaska's Department of Environmental Conservation. "Fecal coliform [bacteria] from MSDs was supposed to be two hundred colonies per hundred milliliters, but we got maximums of thirty-two million colonies."

As a result, laws were passed establishing purity standards for blackwater and graywater discharged along Alaska's coast. To comply, most large ships sailing in the area either have installed multimillion-dollar high-tech treatment systems or hold all their wastewater until they exit Alaskan waters.

Michael Crye, president of the International Council of Cruise Lines (ICCL), says there has been a major shift in attitude since the early 1990s, when water treatment methods were not very effective. After the fines and bad publicity that resulted from incidents such as the Royal Caribbean fiasco, Crye says, environmental measures are now "part of the cost of doing business." In 2001, all members of the ICCL—comprising most companies that operate out of the United States—agreed to abide by antipollution measures that meet or exceed existing federal and international regulations.