engleski

Impact of Untreated Sewage Discharge on Marine Environment

Water quality deterioration is one of the most important water resource issues of the 21st century. The problems associated with sewage disposal have become a major problem of the urban world due to increase in human population, urbanization and sea traffic, throughout coastal areas since these areas are inhabited by over 60% of the human population. Coastal sea water is shared by community for recreation, swimming and food production. The adverse public health, environmental, socio-economic, food quality and security, and aesthetic impacts from sewage contamination in coastal areas are well documented. Sea water can be polluted by pathogens, nutrients, chemicals, detergents, pesticides and heavy metals from sewage. Contamination of the coastal water may result in changes in nutrient levels, abundance, biomass and diversity of organisms, bioaccumulation of organic and inorganic compounds and alteration of trophic interaction among species. These effects manifest themselves at molecular, cellular, tissue, organ and ecosystem level. The potential deleterious effects of pollutants from sewage effluent on the receiving water quality of the coastal environment are manifold and depend on volume of the discharge, type of the discharge, the chemical composition and concentrations in the effluent. Receiving waters with high flushing capacity are able to dilute or eliminate most of the conventional pollutants but persistent toxic compounds and long lived pathogens will always be troublesome.

sewage ; pathogens ; nutrients ; heavy metals ; abundance ; eutrophication

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