Treated bilge water is considered an oil free effluent under the pollution prevention regulations.Therefore a port state control officer (PSCO) may expect that the O/B discharge line is completely free of oil.
Our experience with shipboard work is that sight glasses, installed in the O/B discharge line, become oil coated with time. Therefore, in a ship that processes a lot of bilge water, the same thing will happen in the discharge piping; traces of oil will become visible in the piping. The more bilge water is processed the more severe the oil accumulation.
Another factor that increases oil accumulation in the discharge line is when a 3-way valve is used to divert non-compliant effluent back to the bilge. Whenever the ppm level of the effluent exceeds the permitted discharge level, the pipe run between bilge separator and discharge shut-down device becomes contaminated.
We suggest therefore annual cleaning of the O/B discharge line, to make sure no oil shows in the line when a flange connection is broken. we suggest including this procedure in your best practices.
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