Failure of the Bay Park Sewage Treatment Plant (STP) during Superstorm Sandy led to adverse effects in the waters of Hempstead Bay, Long Island, NY. These appear to be related to large discharges of partially treated sewage through its primary and auxiliary outfalls. Modeled dilution discharges indicate that sewage infiltrated the bay, remaining up to 10days. Water column impacts included salinity and dissolved oxygen declines, and biological oxygen demand and nitrogen concentration increases. While the STP does not appear to have released fecal coliform, there were elevated levels of enterococci within the bay for a considerable period following the storm, probably from multiple sources.The STP's reduced functioning and associated environmental impacts, even with resilience upgrades, are not conducive to removing the bay from the list of Impaired Water Bodies. The results reinforce the need to transfer the discharge from the existing outfall to the ocean.

Microplastic pollutants occur in marine environments globally, however estimates of seafloor concentrations are rare. Here we apply a novel method to quantify size-graded (0.038–4.0mm diam.) concentrations of plastics in marine sediments from 42 coastal and estuarine sites spanning pollution gradients across south-eastern Australia. Acid digestion/density separation revealed 9552 individual microplastics from 2.84l of sediment across all samples; equating to a regional average of 3.4 microplastics·ml−1 sediment. Microplastics occurred as filaments (84% of total) and particle forms (16% of total). Positive correlations between microplastic filaments and wave exposure, and microplastic particles with finer sediments, indicate hydrological/sediment-matrix properties are important for deposition/retention. Contrary to expectations, positive relationships were not evident between microplastics and other pollutants (heavy metals/sewage), nor were negative relationships with neighbouring reef biota detected. Rather, microplastics were ubiquitous across sampling sites. Positive associations with some faunal-elements (i.e. invertebrate species richness) nevertheless suggest high potential for microplastic ingestion.

The sources and levels of endocrine disrupting compounds in Kuwait's coastal areas were investigated. Phthalates, alkylphenols and estrogens were measured in the inflows and outflows of three sewage treatment plants as well as in the seawater and sediments from the sewage impacted coastal areas. Phthalate levels in the inflow of the treatment plants ranged from 8.9 to 78.3μg/l; alkylphenols from 0.7 to 279ng/l and estrogens from 30 to 368ng/l. On average, the treatment plants removed about 80% of these compounds. The outflows, however, contained significant levels of all three classes of compounds. The seawater from the sewage impacted area also contained detectable levels of these compounds. Sediment samples from these locations contained elevated levels of phthalates (ranging from 2145 to 15,722μg/kg) and lower levels of alkylphenols (ranging from 2.49 to 15.14μg/kg) and estrogens (ranging from 4.1 to 214μg/kg, dry wt.).

This study investigated the composition, density and distribution of floating macro-litter along the Liguro-Provençal basin with respect to cetaceans presence. Survey transects were performed in summer between 2006 and 2015 from sailing vessels with simultaneous cetaceans observations. During 5171km travelled, 1993 floating items were recorded, widespread in the whole study area. Plastics was the predominant category, with bags/packaging always representing >45% of total items. Overall mean density (14.98 items/km2) was stable with significant increase reported only in 2010–2011; monthly analysis showed lower litter densities in July–September, suggesting possible seasonal patterns. Kernel density estimation for plastics revealed ubiquitous distribution rather than high accumulation areas, mainly due to the circulation dynamics of this area. The presence range of cetaceans (259 sightings, 6 species) corresponded by ~50% with plastic distribution, indicating high potential of interaction, especially in the eastern part of the area, but effective risks for marine species might be underrepresented.

The evolution of the impacts of anthropogenic activities in Todos os Santos Bay was evaluated by profiles of trace metals and Pb isotopes determined in sediment cores. Fluxes of metals increased up to 12, 4 and 2 times for Cu, Pb, and Zn, respectively, compared to those recorded in the beginning of the 20th century. Stable Pb isotopes identified a decommissioned lead smelter and burning of fossil fuels as the main sources of Pb. Most metals showed minor to moderate enrichment factors (EF<4), but Cu and Pb were highly enriched (EF=28 and 6, respectively) at the Aratu harbor. Temporal changes in sediments were associated to different activities, namely Pb smelting, burning of fossil fuels, maritime traffic, petroleum related activities, inputs of domestic effluents, and changes in land uses. The effects of the implementation of environmental policies to improve the waters of the bay could not be identified in the evaluated cores.

This paper deals with the analysis of the global and per capita NOx and VOC emissions in the U.S. and the evaluation of the effectiveness of a number of environmental policies conducted by the government during the last 50 years. For this purpose we have employed fractional integration techniques, which are more flexible than other standard approaches based on the dichotomy between stationary I(0) and nonstationary I(1) behavior. Using the I(d) class of models, our results indicate first that the two NOx series display orders of integration substantially higher than 1, and though the VOC series display smaller orders, the unit root hypothesis cannot be rejected, indicating lack of mean reversion in the four series examined. Including dummy variables for each of the breaks referring to the environmental policies, the results show that the five policies investigated (at 1965, 1967, 1970, 1977 and 1990) were effective in reducing the number of emissions, being particularly important the one that was adopted in 1970.

Liaodong Bay, a semi-enclosed bay located in northeastern China, is impacted by the discharges of five rivers. We analyzed 100 surface sediment samples from the Shallow Sea Wetland of Liaodong Bay for grain size and concentrations of organic carbon (Corg) and heavy metals. The ranges of the heavy metal concentrations were 2.32–17μg/g (As), 0.025–1.03μg/g (Cd), 18.9–131μg/g (Cr), 4.6–36.1μg/g (Cu), 0.012–0.29μg/g (Hg), 13.7–33.9μg/g (Pb), and 17.4–159μg/g (Zn). Pollution assessments revealed that some stations were moderately to highly polluted with As, Cd, and Hg. Severe pollution was apparent in the Xiaoling River estuary; lower concentrations of heavy metals were observed in other river mouths, where the sediments were more coarse. The distributions of the heavy metals were closely associated with Corg and grain size.

The elutriation process has shown its efficiency to extract microplastics from sand and began to spread in the scientific community. This extraction technic requires knowing with accuracy the extraction velocities of particles. This study aims to test whether numerical modeling could help to calculate these velocities. From hydrodynamic equations, a numerical model has been developed and the outputs are compared to experimental extraction data. The results show, for the calculated velocities, the experimental plastic extraction yields will be higher than 90% for <10% of sand contamination. The model also allows determining that, with the actual protocol, the maximum plastic density which can be extracted is about 1450kg·m−3 whereas the detrimental resuspension, which may occur during the column filling step, is highlighted. From model calculations, it arises that changes in the column dimensioning and the protocol operations need to be considered.

Marked shifts in the composition of coral assemblages are occurring at many locations, but it is unknown whether these are permanent shifts reinforced by patterns of population replenishment. This study examined the composition of juvenile coral assemblages across the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Densities of juvenile corals varied significantly among locations, but were highest where coral cover was highest. Juvenile coral assemblages within the Persian Gulf were dominated by Porites, while no Acropora were recorded. We expect therefore, continued declines in Acropora abundance, while observed dominance of Porites is likely to persist. In the Oman Sea, Pocillopora was the dominant juvenile coral, with Acropora and Stylophora also recorded. This study shows that taxonomic differences in replenishment are reinforcing temporal shifts in coral composition within the southern Persian Gulf, but not in the Oman Sea. Differences in environmental conditions and disturbance regimes likely explain the divergent responses between regions.

Reductions of zooplankton biomasses and grazing pressures were observed during overfishing-induced trophic cascades and concurrent oil spills at global scales. Recent phytoplankton increments followed, once Fe-, P-, and N-nutrient limitations of commensal diazotrophs and dinoflagellates were also eliminated by respective human desertification, deforestation, and eutrophication during climate changes. Si-limitation of diatoms instead ensued during these last anthropogenic perturbations of agricultural effluents and sewage loadings. Consequently, ~15% of total world-wide annual asthma trigger responses, i.e. amounting to ~45 million adjacent humans during 2004, resulted from brevetoxin and palytoxin poisons in aerosol forms of western boundary current origins. They were denoted by greater global harmful algal bloom [HAB] abundances and breathing attacks among sea-side children during prior decadal surveys of asthma prevalence, compiled here in ten paired shelf ecosystems of western and eutrophied boundary currents. Since 1965, such inferred onshore fluxes of aerosolized DOC poisons of HABs may have served as additional wind-borne organic carriers of toxic marine MeHg, phthalate, and DDT/DDE vectors, traced by radio-iodine isotopes to potentially elicit carcinomas. During these exchanges, as much as 40% of mercury poisonings may instead have been effected by inhalation of collateral HAB-carried marine neurotoxic aerosols of MeHg, not just from eating marine fish. Health impacts in some areas were additional asthma and pneumonia episodes, as well as endocrine disruptions among the same adjacent humans, with known large local rates of thyroid cancers, physician-diagnosed pulmonary problems, and ubiquitous high indices of mercury in hair, pesticides in breast milk, and phthalates in urine.