USS John F Kennedy

In March of 2007, the USS John F. Kennedy – the last conventionally-powered aircraft carrier built by the US Navy – made its last voyage up the east coast for a final port visit to Boston before being officially decommissioned in Mayport, Florida.

While the ship was docked in Boston, NewStream received and treated over one million gallons of wastewater from its bilge. The environmental services company contracted to transport and dispose of the water was able to minimize costs and keep up with the
needs of their customer by working with NewStream.  Here’s why:

• NewStream is located less than 25 miles from Boston and convenient to I-95, I-492, I-295,and R-24.
• NewStream operates 24 hours, 7 days and offers an average 30-minute truck turnaround time.
• NewStream’s 1,000,000-gallon storage capacity easily accomodated the volume of wastewater generated by the JFK.

Bilge water from large ships is an appropriate type of waste stream for NewStream to treat because it is typically non-hazardous and has characteristics that make it a good fit for the plant. The primary contaminants are traces of oil and diesel fuel, light sediment, and sometimes corrosive metals from the ship’s mechanical systems. As with the JFK’s wastewater, the final effluent from these larger vessels is particularly clean because it is processed through on-board treatment systems, including oil recovery, before being discharged to the bilge. It is sometimes diluted by seawater from normal leakage and other on-board activities. Ships are permitted to discharge pretreated wastewater to the ocean while off-shore, but in port, it must be held for off- site disposal.