Information reliability in marine waste disposal studies

Prediction of the performance of systems designed to discharge municipal and industrial wastes into the marine environment, and of the effects of these discharges on the environment, requires an understanding of the dynamic behavior of the system. Such an understanding can be achieved only by extensive measurement of a variety of parameters of both the marine system and of the waste materials to be discharged. Techniques for the measurement of waste characteristics are well developed. In this area, the primary problem is quantification of the variability of the waste characteristics. This problem is not so much one of instrumentation as of achieving statistical reliability, applicability, and interpretability. This is due, in part, to the variety of instruments and measurement techniques available in nearshore oceanographic work, and in part, due to the complexities of the dynamic processes in the marine environment. This paper examines and discusses a number of these and related problems. The subjects discussed will include: the types of data needed for marine outfall design, types and extent of data required for determination of environmental effects, suitability of various types of instrumentation, techniques for maximizing the reliability of data acquisition, needs for new types of instrumentation, and the interpretation of data. The paper also discusses the tradeoffs which must be made between the needs and desire for information and the costs of acquiring it.