TIRUPATI: The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, has inaugurated Southeast Asia’s first Ballast Water Treatment Technologies Test Facility (BWTT-TF) at Pamanji and Vagarru villages in Tirupati district. This advanced facility, crucial for marine conservation, will help prevent the spread of invasive aquatic species through ballast water, which poses risks to marine ecosystems.
Compliant with the International Maritime Organisation’s (IMO) D2 discharge standards, the facility will enable testing and certification of Ballast Water Treatment Systems (BWTS) as per the Ballast Water Convention 2004.
The inaugural event was led by the Ministry of Earth Sciences Secretary Dr M Ravichandran, who emphasised the importance of India’s 7,516-km coastline in international shipping.
He also laid the foundation for India’s first Centre for Marine Microbial Repository at NIOT’s campus, focusing on deep-sea microbial preservation under the Deep Ocean Mission.