Legislative measures to prevent world ocean pollution

 

The pollution of the sea was first recognized as a problem before the First World War. The formation of the UN stimulated the activities. In 1954 the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by oil set the first international standards for limiting oil pollution by prohibiting oil/water mixtures containing more than 100 parts per million (ppm) of crude oil, fuel oil or lubricating oil being discharged into sea areas of 50 miles from shore.

In November 1973 in London at the end of the International Marine Pollution Conference convened by the Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organisation (IMCO) there was concluded the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships (MARPOL). The conference was attended by 500 representatives of the leading maritime nations, the UN organisations and intergovernmental organisations. The 1973 convention forms part of the body of maritime law. The new instrument contains provisions aimed at eliminating pollution of the sea by both oil and the toxic substances, harmful substances, sewage and garbage which may be discharged operationally and at minimizing the amount of oil which would be accidentally released in such mishaps as collisions or groundings. The Convention applies to any ship, including hydrofoil boats, air-cushion vehicles, submersibles, floating craft, fixed or floating platforms operating in the marine environment. It covers all aspects of International accidental pollution from ships by oil or noxious substances carried in bulk or in packages, sewage and garbage. The Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution by Dumping from Ships and Aircraft was signed in Oslo in 1972.

The Load on Top (LOT) System enables a tanker to arrive at a loading port with clean ballast aboard and also to permit it to comply with the effluent discharge standards. Effluent is treated or untreated liquid, solid or gaseous products discharged. In this system the oil and water mixtures are pumped into slop tanks and allowed to separate. After a suitable period of time, most of the settled water is drawn off from the bottom of the tank and discharged overboard during the ballast voyage. The new cargo is loaded on top of the oil remaining in the slop tank. At the discharge port the contents of the slop tank are pumped out to the refinery with the cargo. This system is aimed at minimizing pollution from oil-carrying ships. Slop tank is an empty cargo tank where the washings from tank cleaning operations and residue from discharge of the original ballast water are pumped.

Crude Oil Washing (COW) System is the system in which the cargo residues are pumped ashore when the cargo and vessel leaves the discharge terminal with about 1/5th or less of the quantity of oil on board of that of similar vessel fitted with segregated ballast tank. The pollution potential of the tanker is thus reduced. It is more effective than conventional water washing in removing oily deposits and sludge from tanks. COW is carried out using fixed tank washing machines and permanent piping under the inert gas atmosphere.

Any tanker operating with a cargo tank cleaning procedure using Crude Oil Washing shall be fitted with an Inert Gas System (IGS) to every cargo and slop tank.

Clean Ballast Tank (CBT) System is a method whereby certain tanks within the cargo zone of the ship are dedicated for the carriage of clean ballast water and the cargo.

Segregated Ballast (SBT) System is a method whereby ballast water tanks and their associated piping and pumping system are completely separated from the cargo oil tanks and system.

IV. Words to be learnt:

to recognize – узнавать, распознавать

crude oil – сырая, неочищенная нефть

fuel oil – мазут

part per million – промилле

Intergovernmental Maritime Consultative Organization (IMCO) – Межправительская морская консультативная организация

International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships – Международная конвенция по предотвращению загрязнения вод с судов

The Load on Top System – Система сброса нефтяных отходов с судов

Crude Oil Washings – промывка резервуаров сырой нефтью

Clean Ballast System – система чистого балласта

Segregated Ballast System – балластная система с чистобалластными танками

Exercises:

 

I. Find the Russian equivalents in the right-hand column for the following:

1. formation	1. завершать
2. lubricating oil	2. сток
3. to conclude	3. отстаивать воду
4. to release	4. закачивать
5. effluent	5. образование
6. to settle water	6. сброс воды, загрязненной нефтью
7. refinery	7. влияние
8. to pump	8. насос
9. oily discharge	9. система накачки
10. pumping system	10. смазочное масло
	11. нефтеперегонный завод
	12. освобождать

II. Fill in the blanks using the words given below:

1. The … was attended by 500 representatives of the leading maritime nations.

2. It covers all … of International accidental pollution from ships by oil.

3. LOT System enables a tanker to arrive at a loading port with clean ballast … .

4. After a suitable … of time, most of the settled water is drawn off from the bottom of the tank

5. In 1954 the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of the Sea by oil set the first international … for limiting oil pollution.

Aspects, period, standards, conference, aboard,

III. Answer the following questions:

1. When was oil pollution recognised as a problem for the first time?

2. When were the first measures to control pollution introduced?

3. When were the first international standards for limiting oil pollution set?

4. When was the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships and aircraft signed?

5. What operations in a tanker may lead to pollution?

6. What equipment is installed to prevent the discharge of oil into the sea?

IV. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English:

1. Загрязнение моря было уже проблемой еще до Первой мировой войны.

2. В ноябре 1973 г. в Лондоне состоялась международная конференция по предотвращению загрязнения морской среды.

3. На конференции присутствовали представители ведущих морских держав.

4. Загрязнение мирового океана может способствовать изменению климатических процессов.

5. Загрязнение накапливается в местах, где концентрируется живая материя.

6. Когда были приняты первые меры по контролю над охраной окружающей среды?

7. Система LOT направлена на минимальное загрязнение с нефтеперевозящих судов.

8. Какие операции на танкере могут привести к загрязнению?

9. Какое оборудование устанавливается на судах с целью предотвращения загрязнения мирового океана нефтью?

10. Нефть и водные смеси закачиваются в отстойные цистерны.

V. Translate into Russian paying attention to the modal verbs:

1. This may increase dramatically the demand for fishmeal, and therefore its price.

2. To be sustainable the fisheries sector must become self-sufficient, profitable and self-financing.

3. We need growth to give us the means to live better and healthier lives.

4. Prevention can often be better and cheaper than cure.

5. We need a European Standard for how to do it.

6. The quota is to be divided among the different fishing nations.

7. Fish meal and oil have to come from sustainable fisheries and, wherever possible, the fish meal used comes from waste produced during fish processing.

8. All people should raise their voices in defence of nature.

9. We ought to pay attention to the question of nature conversation.

10. They have to build the most perfect purification plants.

 

VI. Underline the complex objects and translate the sentences into Russian:

1. Did you feel the bridge shake?

2. I don’t like you to say such things.

3. We knew him to be very brave sailor.

4. We expected the steamer to arrive at Kerch yesterday.

5. The buyers wished the goods to be discharged into lighters.

6. Seeing the teacher enter the room students rose to greeter him.

7. Tell me what you would like me to do.

 

VII. Underline the complex subjects and translate the sentences into Russian:

1. She is known to be a good ecologist.

2. The opening of the conference is understood to have been fixed for the 14^th of October.

3. Paper bags are said to give better protection against frost than jute bags.

4. Many million tons of coal reserves are known to exist in that district.

5. Two shiploads of ore expected to arrive shortly will be sent to that works.

6. The experiment, which is believed to have proved most successful, will be discussed at the conference.

 

VIII. Underline the “for-to-infinitive phrase” and translate the sentences into Russian:

1. It is necessary for goods to be packed in strong cases.

2. The water was too cold for the children to bathe.

3. The first thing for me to do is to find out when the steamer arrives.

4. This is for teacher to decide.

5. It is easy for you to say that.

IX. Define and underline the Infinitive Constructions. Translate the sentences into Russian:

1. The world is expected to double in population in a little less than 30 years.

2. Scientists believe sea water to be a promising source of raw materials.

3. In deserts, where the relative humidity is likely to be small, the air is so dry that evaporation goes on rapidly.

4. Seawater is found to be extraordinarily constant in composition of its principal ions, the so-called conservative ions.

5. For this trend of development to be successful, good mechanical efficiency must be insured.

6. The apparatus to be using for testing purposes is similar to that used in our laboratory.

7. Ecology is known to be a problem common for all mankind.

8. We know the environment protection to occupy an important place in everybody’s life.

9. It is necessary for more and more people in all countries to raise their voices in defence of nature.

10. The control of air pollution especially in London is said to be successful.

11. We consider London and many other cities to become smokeless zones.

12. Cigarette smoke was proved to pollute many public places, like cinemas, pubs and restaurants.

13. We know the increase in traffic to threaten seriously air pollution problems in cities.

14. Much money for building new purification plants was reported to be spent by that time.

15. The energy of the sun’s rays is known to have been used from ancient times.

 

X. Read the text and enumerate measures taken to prevent oil pollution of the World Ocean:

The increasing number of oil and chemical tankers began to threaten oceans, seas, and coastal waters from the 1950s. The main oils are clarified, crude, diesel, residual, lubricating, turbine, gasoline and naphtha. In a tanker the following operations take place: loading and unloading of oil cargo, ballasting of cargo tanks, cleaning of cargo tanks, discharge of water from slop tanks, discharge overboard of bilge waters which has accumulated in machinery spaces in port or at sea. This leads to open sea and coast water pollution. To prevent the pollution by oil, special Regulations were specified. Thus special areas (the Mediterranean Sea area, the Baltic Sea area, the Black Sea area, the Red Sea area, the Gulfs area) are specified. Every tank of 150 gross tonnage and above must be surveyed before the ship is put into service, and then there are periodical surveys (at intervals not exceeding 5 years) and intermediate surveys (at intervals not exceeding 30 months). In all the ports and loading terminals there must be provided reception facilities. The oil residues which cannot be discharged into the sea shall be retained on board or discharged to reception facilities. Special means are provided for cleaning the cargo tanks and transferring the dirty ballast residue and tank washings from the cargo tanks into slop tanks. To prevent the discharge of all but the minutest quantities of oil the ships are equipped with all discharge equipment, oily water discharge monitors, oily water separators, oil filtration equipment: incinerators and compactors. Oil water separators reduce the oil content of oily water mixture. Oil content monitoring systems measure oil content in the ballast discharge line (ballast monitor). There is an adjustable early warning alarm.

The red-cut for the monitor can be on the bridge or in the tanker cargo control room. Bilge monitors have alarms situated behind a separator, coalescer and filter arrangement.

 

IX. Read and learn the dialogues:

1. A: Good morning! I'm an inspect­or of the Department of Marine Pollution Control.

B: Good morning, sir! I'm the master of this ship. What can I do for you?

A: I'd like to have a look at your equipment for the prevention of pollution at sea.

B: You are welcome. My Chief Mate will show you anything you want to see.

A: Thank you.

B: It's all right!

 

2. A: Please show me the tanks for oil residues, and also the oily mixture separating equipment.

B: Here are the tanks, and here's the equipment you are asking about.

A: And where is your Oil Record Book?

B: Here you are.

A: When did you make an entry in it last?

B: Five days ago.

 

3. A: How come your ship found herself in the oil spot?

B: This oil spot has drifted along­side my ship the wind and current.

A: Are you sure of that?

B: Of course I am. Our equipment is in good order and prevents any discharge of oily water into the sea.

 

X. Make up your own dialogues using the following words and word combinations:

1) International Standards; limiting oil pollution; fuel oil; into sea; from shore; to conclude; leading maritime nations.

2) Intergovernmental organization; sewage; the amount of oil; floating platforms; marine environment; in the slop tank; cleaning operations on board.

3) Water washing; to remove oily deposits; cargo oil tanks; ballast water tanks; to separate.

UNIT 4

I. Read and translate the following group of words:

Variable amounts, moisture, organic wastes, volcanic ash, sand dunes, gravel beds, hooves of animals, dead plant matter, roots of trees, soil layers, to bring up.

 

II. Translate from Russian into English the following words of the same root:

Почва - почвенный; влажность – влагонепроницаемый - увлажнять; структура - структурный; формирование - формировать - сформированный; сотрудничество – сотрудничество; распыление – распылять – распыляемый – распылитель; служить – обслуживание - обслуживаемый; добавление – добавлять – добавочный.

III. Read and translate the text:

Soil

 

Soil is a complex mixture of inorganic and organic materials with variable amounts of air and moisture. Clay, silt, sand, gravel and rocks are the inorganic components of soil. Detritus, organic wastes, and a multitude of living organisms are the organic components. Soils are described according to six general features: texture, structure, acidity, gas content, water content, and biotic composition.

Soil formation.Soil formation is a complex and often slow process, even under the best of conditions. The time it takes soil to develop depends partly on the type of parent material, the underlying substrate from which soil is formed. To form 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) of topsoil from hard rock may take 200 to 1200 years, depending on the climate. Softer parent materials such as shale, volcanic ash, sandstone, sand dunes, and gravel beds are converted to soil at a faster rate (in 20 years or so) if conditions are favorable.

A number of physical processes contribute to soil formation. Daily heating and cooling may cause the parent rock material to split and fragment, especially in climates such as deserts where daily temperatures can vary widely. Water entering cracks in rocks expands in freezing, causing the rock to fragment further. Rock fragments formed by heating and cooling and by freezing are slowly pulverized into smaller particles by streams of landslides, by hooves of animals, or by wind and rain.

Soil formation is facilitated by a wide range of organisms. Lichens capture dust, seeds, excrement and dead plant matter, which help form soil. The roots of trees and large plants reach into small cracks and fracture the rock. Roots also serve as nutrient pumps, bringing up inorganic nutrients from deeper soil layers. These chemicals are first used to make leaves and branches, which can fall and decay, thus becoming part of the soil.

Animals add to the soil the organic matter. A variety of insects and other creatures, such as earthworms, also participate in soil formation.

 

IV. Words to be learnt:

clay – глина

silt – ил, осадок

gravel – гравий

detritus – детрит, обломочный материал

acidity – кислота

to split – раскалывать, расщеплять

landslide – обвал, оползень

sandstone – песчаник

desert – пустыня

to pulverize – дробить, измельчать

 

Exercises:

 

I. Find the Russian equivalents in the right-hand column for the following:

1. soil	1. глинистый сланец
2. acidity	2. лежать внизу
3. topsoil	3. трещина
4. to underlie	4. кислота
5. shale	5. лишай
6. to contribute	6. корни
7. crack	7. почва
8. lichen	8. инцидент
9. roots	9. слушать
10. to decay	10. гнить
	11. способствовать
	12. верхний слой почвы

 

II. Fill in the blanks using the words given below:

1. In the United States 500000 hectares of … are lost each year because of soil erosion.

2. Soil is a complex mixture of inorganic and organic materials with variable amounts of air and … .

3. The white … produces about 30 tons of manure each year, which is deposited in its territory.

4. The soil profile is determined by the climate (especially … and temperature).

5. … can be controlled by a variety of techniques.

Moisture, farmland, erosion, rhinoceros, rainfall.

 

III. Answer the following questions:

1. What does the term “soil” mean?

2. What components of soil do you know?

3. According to what general features are soil described?

4. What does “soil formation” mean?

5. What do physical processes contribute to soil formation?

6. By what organisms is soil formation facilitated?

IV. Translate the following sentences from Russian into English:

1. Песок и глина относятся к неорганическим компонентам почвы.

2. Различные физические прочесы способствуют формированию почвы.

3. Почва – это смесь органических и неорганических материалов.

4. Упавшие листья становятся частью почвы.

5. Верхний слой почвы самый темный и рыхлый по сравнению с другими.

6. Этот слой богат на органические и неорганические вещества.

7. Второй слой получает и накапливает питательные вещества с верхнего слоя.

8. Какие типы почвы Вы знаете?

9. Исследования университета Небраска показали, что террасирование снижает эрозию на 50%.

Органические отходы успешно применяются в различных целях.

V. Give all possible forms of Participle of the following verbs:

To come, to cover, to stop, to cut, to forget, to begin, to order, to wait, to ring, to think, to sleep.

 

VI. State the functions of Participle 1:

1. The student stood looking up and down.

2. Standing on the bank of the river, he watched the dockers at work.

3. While examining the cases discharged from the ship, he noticed that some of them were broken.

4. While learning the pronunciation of the words we learned their meaning.

5. When drawing up a contract for the sale of goods, it is necessary to give a detailed description of the goods.

 

VII. State the functions of Participle 2:

1. The article on agriculture published in this magazine was written by our teacher.

2. What do you call a ship built for the transportation of timber?

3. The textile goods produced by the factory are in great demand.

4. As the steamer was squeezed by the ice, the steamer could not continue her way.

5. All documents were typed.