Shoreline Impact from Ocean Waste Discharges

Abstract

A methodology is presented which enables estimation of the advective transport probabilities from a coastal wastewater discharge based on information that can be obtained from current measurements. From these, shoreline impact can be assessed, and the tendency for background buildup and benthic accumulation estimated. The method utilizes measured data to obtain parameter values to allow synthetic currents to be generated that can in turn be used in a Monte Carlo scheme for obtaining the advective transport probabilities. The method permits enhancement and improvement of the estimates when the amount and extent of data coverage are expanded.