CA to get tough on ballast water

California is on the verge of blazing a new environmental path with the toughest restrictions in the nation on exotic clams, crabs and other non-native aquatic species that harm river and Bay environments, threaten water supplies and clog water pipes.

State lawmakers last week sent the governor a bill to require ships entering California ports to treat their ballast water to kill the aquatic species that hitchhike from port to port around the world.

“If this becomes law, it’s likely to spur national and international attention to standards for ballast water,” said Andrew Cohen, a scientist with the San Francisco Estuary Institute. “Someone has to be daring enough to go fast about a serious problem.”

Just one state, Michigan, has passed a rule that will make ship ballast water treatment mandatory, but it doesn’t spell out how thorough the treatment must be, California officials say. The treatment standards would be phased in, starting in 2009, to provide time for systems to be developed to kill the organisms. By 2020, no discharge of organisms 50 larger than microns would be allowed.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not decided yet whether to sign the bill, his staff said.