Oily Waste off the UAE Coast

Time is short. Time is money. The skipper must make a quick decision. There is an oil waste treatment facility available further ahead, in Fujairah, but this has a limited capacity. Besides, it may not be available at short notice. Detection? Ah! The skipper remembers that aircraft deployed for the purpose were not yet equipped with the sophisticated equipment required for night-time surveillance. The choice, then, is clear.

Under cover of darkness over the ensuing six hours, every hour, some 4000 cubic metres of seawater gushes in and out of the tanks; and 24, 000 tonnes of oil contaminated water (called slop) is discharged overboard. Its dirty business done, the offending tanker charges full steam ahead along Oman's coastline, then the UAE's and through the Strait. By the break of dawn, it is well into the Arabian Gulf, its spruced tanks ready for new cargo. But the oily mess that it has left behind is already drifting towards the shores of the Sultanate of Oman and the Emirates of Fujairah and Sharjah to bombard beaches with tar balls, and submerge sands with rafts of oil up to a depth of 10 centimetres or more, besides playing havoc with the coastal ecology.

Col. Suleiman Al-Busaidy, Superintendent General, Pollution Control, Ministry of Regional Municipality & Environment, Muscat, says that deliberate discharges by tankers are certainly not rare occurrences. Somewhere along the Omani coastline, two such incidents occur each day. Persistent oil pollution for the last 25 years has made Oman's shores one of the most defiled in the world, with Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, being the other Gulf states facing similar contamination levels.

So, did we think that only tanker accidents causing Exxon Valdez-type oil spills are causes of concern? Not true. Huge quantities of oil are intentionally pumped out by vessels cleaning their tanks before taking on new cargoes. The worst oil pollution is therefore found on main shipping lines. Oil pollution from shipping in the Mediterranean Sea, for instance, is said to be equivalent to 17 huge Exxon Valdez tankers emptying their tanks per year! And some 1.2 million barrels of oil spill into the Arabian Gulf annually. Between 10,000 and 12,000 vessels pass the Gulf of Oman annually; 75% of these are oil tankers making their way to the Arabian Gulf.

But there's hope on the horizon. To counter the problems of pollution by slops (dirty oil and water), tank bottom sludge, filthy ballast, engine room sludge and oily bilge water, a waste reception and treatment facility will become operational in Fujairah port by the close of this year. Called the East Coast Regional Reception Facility (ECOREF), it will be capable of receiving up to 15,000 tonnes of solid waste (sludge) and 110,000 tonnes of liquid waste (bilge water from engine rooms as well as tank washings and slops from cargo tanks) per year.

About 50% of all vessels passing the Gulf of Oman halt at an offshore anchorage area of the UAE and the Sultanate of Oman. ECOREF will be capable of managing the oily wastes of all these ships and more. It is referred to as ' a private solution for a pubBLE>problem' by Dr. Abubakr Al-Saggaf, General Manager, Environmental Services LLC, the company (headquartered in Muscat with a branch in Fujairah) that is the project's founder and management contractor. He explains how the Reception Facility will work.

An oil tanker stops at the offshore anchorage of Fujairah. ECOREF sends out barges to receive waste from the tanker at the offshore anchorage itself. These barges transport the oily liquid and solid waste to a dedicated waste reception berth onshore. From here, trucks carry the solid waste, and pipelines the liquid waste to a treatment plant where oil, water and solids are separated from each other via complex chemical and physical processes. Waste water is treated to the lowest legislative limits of oil and grease content and safely disposed back into the sea through pipelines. Oil is recovered from the waste, purified, and sold to refiners and brokers. Sediments and sludge are incinerated and the ashes landfilled.

ECOREF's client vessels will be charged according to the contents of their oily waste. ''There's nothing wrong if you profit and protect the environment,'' says Dr. Al-Saggaf. "Unfortunately, in many cases, these are two distinct lines that don't always see eye to eye. Most companies like only the carrots (profits) and not the sticks (legislation).'' This is not the case with ECOREF.

What would compel vessels to use the ECOREF and other similar services? Rules and regulations - international, regional and national - as well as local port control, because port authorities will monitor all operations. Besides, the UAE Federal law on environment, to be implemented soon, will impose stringent punishments for polluters. Oily waste discharges at sea are not permitted under the law and offenders will be heavily fined. ECOREF client vessels will be issued certificates of disposal. Operators will need these certificates as proof of proper disposal if they wish to avoid being fined, and to maintain a clean image!

Bilge. Ballast. Slop. Sludge. They don't sound very pleasant do they? Over the years these terms have come to be associated with pollution. A fine 'reception facility' for them may not be able to erase the terms, but it will certainly keep them from fouling our beaches and coastal waters. 

EARTHSENSE DIARY - April-May 1999 Bombay, India Viewed from the air they appear like wild flowers in vibrant hues of pink, blue, yellow and orange covering mounds and meadows. At ground level, they rustle as they cling to bushes; wave enthusiastically atop TV antennae; peek cheekily from behind rocks; lie plastered on the sandy beaches; and get chomped on by bovines. They are super-thin, many times recycled, and finally discarded plastic bags. They are ubiquitous and, a national nuisance. Imagine my delight when I watched a television programme on how Bombay resident, Asha Tendulkar, collects wasted plastic bags in different colours, cuts them up and uses crochet to convert them into table mats, foot mats, carrier bags, purses, wall hangings and other artifacts. She does this ''to utilise waste material that has become a national problem and to fulfill a creative instinct,'' she said. Dubai, UAE Atlanta, USA A hotel that is conserving for tomorrow and entreats you to join their conservation effort by helping save water, detergents and energy. A hotel that has created an island of wilderness (not a manicured garden) in a sea of high rises. A wilderness originating in the hotel's lobby and spilling outside into woods of mountain laurel, Florida flame, sweetgum, American holly, rhododendron and others. Woods laced with gushing streams, rapids and pools; flanked by grassy banks; and sprinkled with creepers and flowering plants. A haven for resident birds. Undoubtedly a prized conservation area in a predominantly urban setting. Public buses operated by the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transport Authority (MARTA) and taxis proudly advertise that they are powered by ''clean natural gas.'' Notice put up in a Korean food restaurant serving a buffet lunch ''Extra charges for those wasting food.'' St. Albans, UK The recycling facilities are impressive. There are recycling banks everywhere with separate bins for paper, cans, plastic bottles, clothes (in some places) and glass (by colour - green, brown, and clear). In addition the city council has a kerbside scheme where recyclables (except glass) are collected right from your doorstep on fixed days of the week. How convenient! ''Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Put your bin on a diet'' read the conservation message on a van plying on the way to London. But if the use of plastic carrier bags is anything to go by, then there is certainly no 'reduction.' Hardly any shoppers carry their own bags to supermarkets. And only a handful use the durable bags which may be purchased on a one-time payment of 10p per bag, and which the supermarket will replace whenever the bag wears out. As things stand, supermarkets are dishing out free carrier bags like crazy, and shoppers are using them like crazy. Very disappointing. It may be Waithrose or Sainsburys, the generous use of plastic carrier bags is reminiscent of Choithram or Al Maya Lal. Organic is in. In all major supermarkets there are sections devoted to organically farmed foods. So are meats clarifying that they contain no flavour- enhancers or genetically- modified ingredients. Noticed these advertisements: For a meat product - Made from a traditional breed of free range (animals)….naturally reared and naturally fed; and for an orange juice - H2O is the only chemical allowed on our fruit. Fresh air, sunshine, and rain. That's all you'll find around the fruit that goes into our organic pure fruit juice…so indulge yourself everyday with juice made from fruit that isn't treated with anything. Except care.

WHAT ON EARTH CAN WE DO? Use organic fertilisers such as compost and manure. Avoid chemical pesticides and weed killers, which sink into the ground and poison water resources. And always be on the look out for alternatives to common household chemicals such as disinfectants, surface cleaners, polishes, soaps…..

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