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Cruise ships have until 2010 to comply with strict new state limits on the wastewater they discharge, according to the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

On Tuesday the department issued new requirements for cruise ships' discharge.

The delayed compliance schedule is a compromise between cruise lines' contention that the wastewater standards are too strict, and the 2006 voters' initiative that required those standards, state permitters said.

"I believe, given the initial look at the permit, that all of the large cruise lines will be able to comply with it," said John Binkley, president of the Alaska Cruise Association.

That is, for this year. Whether cruise ships will be able to pass the 2010 standards is a matter of debate. Binkley said the technology isn't there yet.

"We think it is doable," said Lynn Kent, director of DEC's Division of Water.

Cruise lines must file a notice with the state of intent to discharge if they want to be covered under the new requirements. Any ship that enters Alaska waters must comply with state discharge standards.

Last year, ships were given a compliance order that was stricter than previous regulations while the state established the new requirements; some companies chose to reroute their ships to remain in federal waters, according to cruise ship Program Manager Denise Koch. The federal government does not regulate such discharges.

Thirty-one ships of 500 or more berths have registered to enter Alaska waters this summer. The first one arrives on April 29 in Ketchikan.

The interim standards allow the ships higher discharges of copper, zinc, ammonia and nickel than will be allowed in 2010. Notably, the contaminants will be measured from samples at the end of the discharge pipe from now on.

DEC drafted new wastewater requirements for cruise ships last year. The agency had to do so because voters passed a ballot initiative that required ships discharging in Alaska waters to meet stricter federal standards. Previously, the state only monitored coliform and total solids; now, a slew of contaminants will be monitored and their limits enforced.

The Northwest Cruise Ship Association called some of the new limits "unattainable" in a letter to the DEC commissioner in February. Binkley, the group's president, said that for at least one contaminant, copper, ships can't comply because the drinking water they buy from Alaska communities has much higher levels than what's allowed in the permit.

Cruise ship companies also argued during public comment Tuesday that they should be allowed a "mixing zone," which means the discharge would be measured a short distance from the pipe so pollutants could be diluted in water.

Such zones are allowed for other dischargers, such as mines and oil platforms, and cruise ship companies say they should be treated equally.

But DEC permitters said the voters' initiative clearly stated the discharge was to be measured at the end of the pipe, said DEC manager Koch.

Gershon Cohen, who co-wrote the voters' initiative, was pleased that mixing zones wouldn't be allowed. He called the permit "a very positive step forward for Alaska, and a nationally significant event."

"They should be eliminated for everyone, so this is a step in the right direction," Cohen said.