Managing Wastewater in Coastal Urban Areas (1993) / Chapter Skim
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1 INTRODUCTION
1 INTRODUCTION
Pages 20-52
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From page 20... ...
A rethinking of these policies is required if the nation hopes to continue to maintain and improve coastal water quality while keeping pace with coastal population growth. Around the nation, much of the debate over how to protect and improve coastal waters has focused on urban wastewater and stormwater management.
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From page 21... ...
As shown in Figure 1.1, coastal areas are the most densely populated in the United States, rivaled only by the Great Lakes region. More than 1,400 municipal wastewater treatment plants provide service to these coastal populations and discharge approximately 10 billion gallons of treated effluent per day.
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From page 22... ...
Although relatively limited in areal extent, one of the most insidious sources of contamination to the marine environment is that of existing contaminated sediments. In addition to these direct and indirect inputs of potentially harmful constituents into coastal waters, other human activities can cause stress to marine systems.
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From page 23... ...
It is not only important, but imperative, that the entire range of factors that may have an impact on coastal environmental quality be considered when strategies for protection are developed. WASTEWATER AND STORMWATER MANAGEMENT Among the myriad of factors that affect coastal environmental quality, the management of wastewater and stormwater are perhaps the two most critical considerations.
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From page 24... ...
24 ._ ._ Cq Ct I_ Cal ._ C)
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From page 26... ...
can wend their way through an entire treatment plant; however, almost all trash and debris are deposited in coastal waters by wind, CSOs, runoff, ships, recreational boaters, and other users of the shore. Anticipated National-Level Priorities for Constituents of Concern In the collective judgement of the Committee, in general, a wastewater constituent may be considered to be of high concern if it poses significant
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From page 27... ...
It is noted, however, that the relative importance of various constituents will likely differ at the local and regional levels depending on site-specific circumstances. Treatment Technologies and Other Management Techniques More than 1,400 municipal wastewater treatment plants provide service to the coastal population, discharging 10 billion gallons of treated effluent a day.
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From page 28... ...
While the complete elimination of waste is obviously not possible in the case of sewage, there are several approaches that can reduce the discharge of some constituents and decrease the volume of water discharged. Phosphate detergent bans in several inland regions of the United States have resulted in significant reductions in phosphorus levels entering treatment plants.
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From page 29... ...
holds the greatest responsibility for regulating the quality of the coastal environment. The EPA is responsible for regulating discharges to the coastal environment under the Clean Water Act and the Ocean Dumping Act and for cooperating in the administration of the Coastal Zone Management Act.
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From page 30... ...
Usually the day-to-day funding and management of these facilities is provided under the authority of a multiple service government such as a city, or a single purpose entity such as a wastewater management agency. Many other agencies and governmental bodies at the state, regional, and local levels also concern themselves with coastal environmental management.
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From page 31... ...
The 1987 amendments added the goal of · development of nonpoint source pollutant control programs. The act established a federal program parallel to state authority over water quality and established a new system of minimum technology-based discharge standards.
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From page 32... ...
They argued that because ocean currents disperse effluent readily and dissolved oxygen depletion is rarely a problem in open coastal marine environments, secondary treatment might not be the most cost-effective method for controlling pollutants from municipal wastewater treatment plants discharging to ocean waters. The 1977 Clean Water Act recognized merit in this argument and established a waiver process by which municipalities could avoid constructing full secondary treatment facilities if, on a case-by-case basis, they could demonstrate compliance with a strict set of pollution control and environmental protection requirements.3 Coastal dischargers were given a one-time opportunity to enter into the waiver program.
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From page 33... ...
Improvements in some areas have revealed new problems. For example, the upgrading of New York City's treatment plants has improved water quality in New York Harbor; however, it is now hypothesized that dissolved nitrogen in the cleaner effluent is entering Long Island Sound where it causes eutrophication problems, particularly during the summer (Parker and O'Reilly 1991, Swanson et al.
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From page 34... ...
Water Pollution Control Success Stories New York Harbor Though one of the most anthropogenically impacted estuaries in the world, there have been significant improvements to the water quality of New York Harbor as a result of a vigorous program planning first initiated in 1907. Today New York City has 14 wastewater treatment plants; eleven of these facilities operate at full secondary treatment, two are being upgraded to secondary treatment, and one is in the upgrade planning phase.
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From page 35... ...
The EEZ area contains about 125,000 cubic kilometers of sea water, an amount about 180 times the volume of all inland estuaries and providing a comparable larger dilution capacity for waste. Despite the dilution capacity of coastal waters, there are large variations in the characteristics of the United States' coastal zone that warrant caution in marine waste disposal.
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From page 36... ...
This decrease indicates a significant long-term trend of water quality improvement. Figures 1.3a and 1.3b show average summer coliform concentration trends for New York Harbor.
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From page 37... ...
2=3 ISLAND _ ~Jamaica Owls Marl / blat W YORK U1 I Y ORAINA GE AREAS AND ~ : ~- = - -- -I : : ~F1A/~ ~ THEA Th d =A IT By/ ~ A ITCH FIGURE 1.2 New York Harbor plant locations and capacities. (Reprinted, by permission, from the New York City Department of Environmental Protection.)
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From page 38... ...
. 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 YEAR SECONDARY CONTACT PRIMARY CONTACT FIGURE 1.3a Total coliforms trends in New York Harbor.
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From page 39... ...
By 1960, however, all major cities' sewage treatment plants were operating at primary or secondary treatment levels. In the period from 1977 to 1981, there were significant improvements in Delaware River water quality as a result of treatment plant construction and upgrades.
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From page 40... ...
1 00000 10000 1000 100 10 1 40 60 YEAR 1968-1970 , ~ ~ I, `, ; ' ' / I' \ /~% , - _ _ . ' 1 1 ~1 ~1 ~ 1 ~ 1 1 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 River Kilometer 1978-1980 -- ~ 1988-1990 FIGURE 1.4b Historic fecal coliform profiles for the Delaware Estuary.
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From page 41... ...
The challenges of the future are more complex than those of the past. The coastal problems remaining, such as combined sewer overflows and nonpoint source pollution, are physically and conceptually more complex, and institutionally more elusive, than municipal wastewater treatment issues of the past.
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From page 42... ...
For example, since 1972 · a mandatory permit system that provides a means to apply specific control requirements to particular dischargers has been developed, · enforcement mechanisms that have the capacity to compel correction of or provide adequate punishment for violations of legal requirements have been established, . scientific capacity has advanced such that it is now possible to develop relatively accurate predictive models and allocate pollution reduction obligations in a more rational manner, and · public expectations and support for clean water objectives have grown considerably, allowing for the development of the political will to allocate more adequate resources to cleaning up and protecting the nation's water resources.
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From page 43... ...
, the other on Deer Island built in 1968 and having an average daily flow of 280 MOD. However, the digested sludge produced by these primary treatment plants, approximately 50 tons per day, was also discharged into the harbor until December of 1991.
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From page 44... ...
In 1982, the city of Quincy filed a civil law suit against MDC, and in 1983, the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) , a public interest group, filed a suit against MDC for alleged violations of the Clean Water
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From page 45... ...
The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) was created in December 1984; and in December 1985, the court ordered it to comply with the standards of the Clean Water Act.
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From page 46... ...
There are also concerns within the region that MWRA will retreat from its commitment to secondary treatment following the completion of the outfall and primary treatment plant. Some civil engineers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, including a member of the Committee on Wastewater Management for Coastal Urban Areas, have conducted studies showing that average annual flows in Boston are substantially less than those for which the new treatment plant is designed.
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From page 47... ...
The creation of the SDMSS involved the consolidation of wastewater from 10 separate communities, previously discharged into the bay or surf zone, into a new primary treatment system at Point Loma with a two and a half mile long, 200-foot deep outfall. The current Point Loma Treatment plant processes between 175 and 185 million gallons of sewage generated each day by more than 1.7 million persons in San Diego and 15 other surrounding cities and sewer districts.
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From page 48... ...
48 MANAGING WASTEWATER IN COASTAL URBAN AREAS 1 SCALE IN MILES OCEAN OUTFALL \ SLUDGEPIPELINE CORONADO POINT LOMA -OUTFALL WASTEWATER EXTENSION TREATMENT PLANT LEGEND - FORCE MAIN INTERCEPTOR _ \ / I\ DRY NG : BED: \ i :~=4~ ~ \ I \~ ~ ;: PUMP ~ I-, -- ~ ~ I MARK I at/ 1 i -- -' ~ 1 :U P it ~ ~ RT~iON 1 \ PACIFIC OCEAN in' \~\ ti -~N \~\ 1 UNITED SrA~S _ I MEXICO FIGURE 1.7 Locations of San Diego's major wastewater and sludge management facilities. (Reprinted, by permission, from the Clean Later Program for Greater San Diego.)
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From page 49... ...
In 1986, the EPA tentatively denied both the 1979 and 1983 waiver applications because of the lack of compliance with the California Ocean Plan bacteriological standards in a portion of the kelp beds and interference with the propagation and protection of a balanced indigenous population of bottom-dwelling organisms and fish populations in the vicinity of the Point Loma outfall. In the same year, the Regional Water Quality Control Board indicated that it would recommend against San Diego's prior request to dedesignate the kelp beds as a recreational area that must meet body-contact standards because no alternate standards had been developed to protect divers in the Point Loma kelp beds.
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From page 50... ...
Finally, the judge deferred his decision on the consent decree until early 1993 which he has since extended until mid-1993. In the interim, he instructed San Diego to conduct tests at the Point Loma plant to determine if it could improve the solids removal efficiency of the chemically enhanced primary treatment process, to complete a master plan for reuse of treated effluent, and to continue all other efforts as if the decree were in effect.
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From page 51... ...
In addition, the city is seeking legislative relief from the secondary treatment requirement in its particular circumstance in the upcoming reauthorization of the Clean Water Act. REFERENCES Albert, R.C.
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From page 52... ...
In The Second Phase of an Improved Assessment of Alternatives to Biological Nutrient Removal at Sewage Treatment Plants for Alleviating Hypoxia in Western Long Island Sound, J.R. Schubel, ed.
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