89 12.8 Solid Waste and Sewage
Solid Waste
Marine debris is a persistent pollution problem of global problem. Marine debris is a threat to wildlife, navigation safety, and is a factor affecting the economy and human health, particularly in poor countries in coastal regions. According to NOAA sources, approximately 1.4 billion pounds of trash per year ends up in the world’s oceans. The major components involve floating consumer plastic objects (including plastic bottles and caps, cigarette butts and lighters, and plastic bags), and these materials decay very slowly, if at all. Other materials include metals, rubber, paper, textiles, construction materials, and glass. The entire world’s oceans are impacted by solid wastes transported by currents. Large portions of the ocean in the center of the large gyres have become floating garbage patches where floating debris is accumulating.
Trash comes from many sources, mostly by careless acts that release trash into storm drains and eventually drain into coastal waterways. Some trash material blown into the by the wind. Much of it comes from coastal recreation and shoreline activities. In impoverished regions, garbage is intentionally dumped at sea. Fishing nets, hooks, lines, abandoned vessels are lost, drifting at sea. Trash washes up on beaches, accumulates on the seafloor, or drifts practically endlessly as sea. Trash is very harmful to wildlife. Small objects that are swallowed cannot be digested, often injuring or killing sea life. Bags, lines, and nets entangle animals, leading to starvation or strangulation.
Garbage patches are regions in the world’s oceans where downwelling waters in the middle of ocean gyre region cause floating garbage to accumulate.
Sewage
In many regions of the world sewage from populated regions is a major source of pollution in coastal regions. Sewage is a major problem in poor and overpopulated communities that cannot afford the technology to treat and process sewage before it is released into rivers or coastal waters. Old, over-used, and poorly-designed waste treatment facilities often cannot handle the volume of both sewage and runoff created by storms. As a result raw sewage can find its way into coastal waters.
Sewage from urban areas include human wastes, food wastes, and household and industrial chemical wastes of many kinds from any different sources.
In San Diego County, urban runoff through storm drains account most of the coastal pollution resulting in beach closures.
The rule of thumb is that for every rain greater that ¼ inch, it is advised to stay out of the ocean for 72 hours.
Here’s the variety of diseases you can get from swimming in contaminated water:
– Sinus infection
– Hepatitis A (bad)
– Gastrointestinal problems, including Cholera
– Staph infection
– Blood poisoning.
From Miracosta College, is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts. Download this book for free at https://geo.libretexts.org/Bookshelves/Oceanography/Oceanography_101_(Miracosta)
