[garbage] [industrial waste water] [sludge dumping]



Another form of pollution in the ocean is industrial waste water. Industries are the primary contributors of heavy metals and toxic organic chemicals in Publicly-owned Waste Water Treatment Facilities. In fact, 80% of all heavy metal loadings are delivered by industries. Although industries only represent 12% of the total flow of waste water, they are the source of 92% of priority organic pollutants. In the United States alone, 6.4 trillion gallons of industrial waste water is dumped every year. One such location of this dumping is at the “Acid Wastes Dump,” which is 15 miles east of Long Branch, New Jersey. 118 million lbs of industrial wastes are dumped here. Only ¼ of U.S. industrial waste water is put through a treatment plant. Even so, this process does not guarantee that dangerous compounds have been removed from the waste water. Some of these compounds, along with sludge dumping, are causing diseases in marine animals, and the diseases are spreading. Fin rot and lesions that were once found only in fish close to shore are now being found in fish much farther out into sea. Also, a shell disease that was once found only in lobsters taken from polluted harbors is now being found in lobsters from deep off-shore waters. These problems will continue to grow unless something is done to stop it.