Spatial and temporal effects of wastewater discharges on benthic marine ecology

Treated municipal wastewater from many coastal populations is discharged at the shoreline or to nearshore waters. The extent of effect of a range discharges on hard seabed communities has been established using methods that... [ view full abstract ]

Treated municipal wastewater from many coastal populations is discharged at the shoreline or to nearshore waters. The extent of effect of a range discharges on hard seabed communities has been established using methods that recognize effluent exposure gradients at a number of discharges in Victoria and Tasmania. Longer-term programs using these methods have shown changes in the extent and nature of effect resulting from changes in treatment and discharge arrangements over time. This presentation presents an overview of the nature of changes that have occurred and the positive and negative ecological indicator species that have been identified.