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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Marine Ecology<BR>Volume 29 Issue 4, Pages 483 -
494<BR>Published Online: 7 Oct 2008</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>DOI
10.1111/j.1439-0485.2008.00257.x<BR></DIV></FONT>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=4>A case study of sewage discharge in
the shallow coastal area</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=4>of the Northern Adriatic Sea (Gulf of
Trieste)</FONT><BR>Patricija Mozetič <A
href="mailto:mozetic@mbss.org">mozetic@mbss.org</A>, Vlado Malačič &
Valentina Turk <BR> Marine Biology Station, National Institute of Biology,
Fornače 41, 6330 Piran, Slovenia. <BR></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><STRONG>ABSTRACT</STRONG><BR>A case study was
carried out in 2000 in the shallow coastal area of the Northern Adriatic Sea
(Gulf of Trieste) where untreated domestic sewage and industrial wastes are
discharged at rate of 5500 m3·day−1. The sewage plume above the outfall was
followed using <STRONG>faecal coliforms (FC)</STRONG> and overturning length
scale (lT). The latter was rejected as a marker as the discharge conditions
prohibit following the turbulence of sewage water. Intermittent sewage discharge
is reflected in the <U>minimal effect of eutrophication</U>. <U>Increase of
phytoplankton biomass is thus only minor</U> compared with the unpolluted area
regardless of elevated concentrations of sewage-derived nutrients (confirmed by
correlation coefficients between FC and NH4+, TP, PO43−: 0.78, 0.71 and 0.67,
respectively). Deteriorated trophic status, determined by the TRIX index, was
observed only in the surface layer (average TRIX: 5.67). <U>High FC content well
above the regulation limit (up to 2.6 × 105 FC·100 ml−1) represents, therefore,
the major negative impact of the improperly treated waste for the risk to human
health</U>. </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>