Impacts of Sewage Effluent on Tree Survival, Water Quality and Nutrient Removal in Coastal Plain Swamps

摘要

An investigation was conducted of the impacts of sprayed municipal sewage on swamp tree survival and the effects of the swamp system on nutrient concentrations below the outfalls on two streams on the coastal plain of North Carolina. Effluent was discharged to one swamp stream by aerial spraying and to the other stream by way of a small ditch. Ninety-eight percent of the trees which were struck directly by the spray were dead within 18 months of the date spraying began. Both swamp systems removed sufficient quantities of nitrogen and phosphorus within a few kilometers to account for virtually all of the sewage nutrient load to the swamps.