SEDIMENT POLLUTION IN COASTAL WATERS

Abstract

Sediment pollution can be defined as the increase in sediment concentration, due to artificial infusion of sediment, to a level harmful to fish and plant life The coastal engineer may be called upon to evaluate the result of an artificial sediment influx in terms of characteristic parameters like concentration and turbidity and to determine eventual deposition areas of the sediment This paper describes the field investigations carried out to evaluate a case of sediment infusion in one of the estuaries on the U S east coast The sediment was discharged via a pipeline at a rate of approximately 10 lbs/sec Nearly all the released sediment was in the silt range In addition to the results of the field measurements a simple mathematical model is presented, describing the temporal and spatial distribution of the sediment in the resulting sediment plume.