Impacts of a raw sewage spill on water and sediment quality in an urbanized estuary

A sewer main serving a large municipal wastewater system ruptured, discharging approximately 3,000,000 gallons (11,355,000 L) of raw human sewage into a multi-branched tidal creek estuary along the US East Coast. The biochemical oxygen demand caused severe hypoxia in the system, causing a large fish...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Marine pollution bulletin Vol. 54; no. 1; pp. 81 - 88
Main Authors:	Mallin, Michael A., Cahoon, Lawrence B., Toothman, Byron R., Parsons, Douglas C., McIver, Matthew R., Ortwine, Michelle L., Harrington, Renee N.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Oxford Elsevier Ltd 2007 Elsevier
Subjects:	Animal, plant and microbial ecology Animals Applied ecology Applied sciences Biological and medical sciences Brackish Chlorophyll - analysis Chlorophyll a Colony Count, Microbial Earth sciences Earth, ocean, space Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution Engineering and environment geology. Geothermics Enterobacteriaceae - isolation & purification Enterococcus Environmental Monitoring Estuary Eukaryota - growth & development Exact sciences and technology Fecal coliform bacteria Fishes Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Geologic Sediments - microbiology Marine and brackish environment Natural water pollution North Carolina Nutrients Oxygen - analysis Phytoplankton - chemistry Pollution Pollution, environment geology Seawater Seawaters, estuaries Sediments Sewage Urban Population Water Microbiology Water treatment and pollution North Carolina Nutrients Sewage Sediments Estuary Fecal coliform bacteria Chlorophyll a Brackish water environment Microbiology Estuaries Environmental factor Coastal zone Salt marsh Selfpurification Pathogenic Micrococcales Bacteria Sewer network Biological contamination Enterococcus Fecal colifonn bacteria Pollutant behavior Leak Coliforms Streptococcaceae Sewer Accident Surveillance Biological oxygen demand Nutrient Water pollution Chlorophylla
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Summary:	A sewer main serving a large municipal wastewater system ruptured, discharging approximately 3,000,000 gallons (11,355,000 L) of raw human sewage into a multi-branched tidal creek estuary along the US East Coast. The biochemical oxygen demand caused severe hypoxia in the system, causing a large fish kill. The sewage load led to high fecal coliform bacteria concentrations in the creek (maximum of 270,000 CFU 100 ml −1), which declined in an approximate logarithmic manner over the first few days. The spill caused elevated sediment fecal coliform bacteria and enterococcus counts that declined much more gradually than water column counts. Persistence of relatively high concentrations of fecal indicator bacteria in sediments for several weeks after the spill suggests that sediment sampling should be included in response to major sewage spills. The high concentration of nutrients in the spilled sewage led to several algal blooms. However, nutrient concentrations in the water column declined rapidly, demonstrating the value of conserving marshes because of their pollutant filtration function.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23
ISSN:	0025-326X 1879-3363
DOI:	10.1016/j.marpolbul.2006.09.003