Uniform National Discharge Standards (UNDS)

United States armed forces vessels operate nationwide in coastal and inland waters. Because they may enter waters of more than one state in their normal operations, these vessels would be subject to different environmental requirements for their discharges, depending upon vessel location. The UNDS program establishes national standards for these vessels.

Advances in pollution reduction and prevention for armed forces vessels could have future application for other vessels as well. One of the goals of UNDS is to advance the development by the U.S. Navy of environmentally sound ships. UNDS also is expected to stimulate the development of innovative vessel pollution control technologies that could be applied to non-military vessels.