By Jane Gerster THE CANADIAN PRESS HALIFAX — Dalhousie
University is working on a system to test the cleanliness of
ballast water, the only such facility in Canada, just as new
regulations could be introduced that would govern what ships
could discharge at ports around the world. The Aquatron
laboratory is scheduled to conduct its first tests of ballast
water at the Halifax school later this month. “We have to
imitate a ship taking on ballast and then we hold the water so
that represents transit of the ship going somewhere,” said John
Batt, the manager of the research facility. “Then we test the
water on a de-ballast.” Batt said water will be pumped through a
control system and a ballast water management system separately.
The results will then be compared and the tests will be repeated
with different salt water levels. “This is a huge need the
industry has,” Batt said. “A huge portion of Eastern Canada’s
revenue and GDP comes from the fishing industry and that’s
potentially at threat.” Frost and Sullivan, a