Submarine Outfalls are an Effective Solution for the Disposal of Properly Treated Sewage of Coastal Cities

Abstract

Many coastal cities in the world have adopted submarine outfall as the solution for their sewage disposal. Brazil, a country with a coastline of 7,500 km, or quite more if one includes the perimeters of bays, has had a good experience with submarine outfalls for sewage disposal. It has proved to be a safe and economical solution to keep coastal waters to meet quality standards. The paper covers aspects such as bathing standards, legislation, refers to the main outfalls in Brazil, suggested pretreatment, and trends in the outfall design.

Keywords

• submarine outfall
• sewage disposal
• seawater quality
• pretreatment
• bacterial decay model