Report on Mini-conference on Sludge Disposal Alternatives in the Ocean off Southern California, 8 September 1976

Abstract

The purpose of the conference was to review the status of our capability to predict the environmental effects of the disposal of digested sewage sludge in the ocean off the coast of Southern California. At present, the ocean disposal of sewage sludge is prohibited by State and Federal regulations. Ocean disposal of sludge, however, is a complex of many alternative combinations of what, where and how; and the environmental consequences of all such combinations have not yet been determined. There is, in fact, some evidence that at least one environmentally sound mode of sludge disposal in the ocean off the Southern California coast may exist. This is the trapping of sludge in the sediments of deep, nearshore ocean basins. such as the Santa Monica Basin. Details of this method are given in Section 3.3. p. 12. It is the philosophy of the Environmental Quality Laboratory to study and evaluate policy alternatives but not to be an advocate of one alternative or another. Some of the policies studied may be contrary to existing laws or regulations, but it is believed that there is a better chance for improvement in the laws or regulations if alternatives currently outside them are also studied. The conference was sponsored by the Environmental Quality Laboratory in the belief that sufficient information is now available to begin making reasonable estimates of the environmental consequences of existing or alternative ocean disposal methods in order to compare them to land-based disposal methods. The purpose of this report is not to publish the actual proceedings of the conference. but rather to act as a communications aid. It is intended to publicize the issues that were raised at the conference, to give the names and addresses of people who are involved in these issues, and to present abstracts and literature citations. The schedule of the conference is presented in the next section. It is followed by a section containing abstracts of current research by conference attendees along with reference lists supplied by them. The fourth section is a summary of the afternoon discussion sessions. The final section is a list of conference attendees with their mailing addresses.