Engineering Systems for Waste Disposal to the Ocean

Successful waste-water and sludge disposal in -the ocean depends on designing an appropriate engineering system where the input is the waste and the output is the final water quality which is achieved in the vicinity of the disposal site. The principal variable components of this system are: source control (or pretreatment) of industrial wastes before discharge into municipal sewers; sewage treatment plants, including facilities for processing of sewage solids (sludge); outfall pipes and diffusers for dispersal of effluents into the ocean, and either barges or pipelines for disposal of sewage sludge.