Full document / COSOC-W-86-002 - the National Sea Grant Library

Estuarine andCoastal Management -Toolsof the
Trade. Proceedings oftheTenth National Conference
ofThe Coastal Society. October 12-15.1986. New
Orleans, LA. Copyright by TheCoastal Society
1987.
ESTUARINE WATER QUALITY PROGRAM EVALUATION:
A QUASI-EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH
R. H. Burroughs
Graduate Program in Marine Attain
University of RhodeIsland
Kingston. RI02881
YMwrtm water Pollution Control fntrsaa
In cities bordorlng estuaries sewage collection Is necessary
to prevent disease. That solution to a public health problem
becooes an environmental problem when raw sewage or Inproperly
treated effluent Is discharged into an estuary. A variety of
treatment processes exist for sewage and by careful selection
disease say be controlled. In addition the estuary say be enhanced
for a variety of uses.
The sewage collection system commonly combines the wastewater
from homes and industry with that from street drainage (EPA,
1980). At the sewage treatment plant the primary stage entails
the settling and removal of solids from the waste stream. A
secondary stage of treatment further purifies the water by
retrovirus organic material froo the water by saturating it with
air, and in cost cases, adding biologically active sludge.
Tertiary or advanced treatment techniques Include extensions of
biological treatment and physlcal-cheaical separation techniques.
Selection of the technologies has depended upon a combination
of factors. Prior to 1972 the ambient quality of the receiving
water body was the determinant of the level of treatment required
for the sewage. Individual municipalities could make progress
under this system given favorable local political and economic
conditions. However, in 1972 the Federal Water Pollution Control
Act Amendments insisted on secondary treatoent. To facilitate
this upgrade Congress appropriated over $40 billion in 12 years
(Bastian, 1966).
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