| For many decades, wastewater from the majority of coastal communities in England and Wales, has been discharged untreated into the marine environment through long sea outfalls. In some cases, these have contributed to both the aesthetic and microbal pollution of designated bathing waters. The requirements to meet environmental legislation, both current and future, encouraged sewage undertakers in 1989 to review disinfection processes. These were seen as an alternative to expensive long sea outfalls, to achieve bathing water compliance with the European Community Bathing Water Quality Directive. It also, indirectly, offered the flexibility to achieve the standards of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive of the Community. The review and subsequent studies were predominately a collaborative exercise, albeit some independent work has also been undertaken. The collaborative studies were carried out under the auspices of the WRc Common Interest Research Programme. This included the Regulators and has enabled them to develop their policy under the umhrellar of the legislation. As a consequence of this work, the sewage undertakings have started to introduce disinfection as a treatment stage, when appropriate, to ensure compliance of the bathing waters. |
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