Gross:
Cruise ships dumped more than a billion gallons of sewage in the ocean this year, much of it raw or poorly treated.
That information arrives courtesy of a press release by the advocacy group Friends of the Earth. They continue:
Friends of the Earth’s 2014 Cruise Ship Report Card reveals that some of the 16 cruise lines graded are slowly getting greener; but more than 40 percent of the 167 ships still rely on 35-year-old waste treatment technology. Such antiquated treatment systems leave harmful levels of fecal matter, bacteria, heavy metals and other contaminants in the water.
Also:
The Environmental Protection Agency says an average cruise ship with 3,000 passengers and crew produces about 21,000 gallons of sewage a day – enough to fill 10 backyard swimming pools in a week.
Gross.
Correction, Dec. 4, 2014: The headline of this post originally misstated that the sewage report covered “last year” and said a billion tons of sewage were released. The report covers 2014 and said a billion gallons were released.
