Municipal wastewater discharges constitute a major source of contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) to coastal waters, yet uncertainty exists regarding their linkage to adverse biological effects such as endocrine disruption. Limited information is available concerning the types and fate of CECs discharged to the Southern California Bight (SCB) from municipal wastewater and their potential for...

In 1996, the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District initiated a Zero Discharge Project to work toward the goal of zero discharge of persistent toxic substances from its wastewater treatment plant. This multifaceted project focuses on mercury, lead, dioxin, polychlorinated biphenyls, and hexachlorbenzene. Here, the author describes a collaboration with local hospitals to eliminate the use of me...

Abstract. For wastewater discharged into one branch of a narrow estuary, the resulting maximum concentration or temperature can vary markedly depending upon the proximity of the discharge site to the branching and upon how the rate of discharge is adjusted. Explicit formulae are derived for the optimal discharge rate to minimize the maximum concentration or temperature experienced in the estuar...

Wood fly ash is an industrial by-product of the combustion of different wood materials and is mostly disposed of as waste on landfills. In our preliminary experiments, wood ash exhibited antibacterial activity against urban wastewater bacteria and we focused on wood fly ash as a potential substrate for wastewater disinfection. The addition of ash at a concentration of 10 g L⁻¹ (1%) caused an in...

In Nigeria, like other developing countries, industries discharge their wastewater without effective treatment due to the high cost of existing treatment technologies. Wastewater containing petroleum hydrocarbon is highly toxic and pose a great danger to the nearby communities. Therefore, there is a need for a more robust and cost effective treatment technology. In this research, a study was ca...

As a result of uncontrolled discharge of wastewaters containing high levels of phosphorus to the receiving bodies could create adverse effects on water quality. Therefore phosphorus should be eliminated prior to discharging into aquatic environment together with carbon and nitrogen to reduce eutrophication risk. Control of effluent phosphorus level by enhanced biological methods became a standa...

Methods that will remove conventional nutrient pollutants such as reactive phosphorus, even at extremely low concentrations, from wastewater effluents are a major need in the aquaculture industry. In this study, novel phosphate binding crosslinked poly(allylamine), PAA · HCl, polymeric hydrogel materials were developed, which efficiently bind phosphate anions in aquaculture wastewater effluents...

In the context of urban drainage, the protection of surface waters from the effects of wastewater discharges has assumed increasing importance. As a result of human activity, there is sometimes contamination of water resources due not only to the phenomenon of diffuse pollution, but also as a result of specific effluent discharges (such as those from different industries or farming and by some ...

Many industries are charged fees based on the organic loads in effluents. Therefore, it can be advantageous to reduce the wastewater strength prior to discharge. We investigated the use of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) to reduce the chemical oxygen demand (COD) of a paper-plant wastewater while at the same time producing electricity in a continuous flow system. At a hydraulic retention time (HRT)...