Wastewater Pollution Impacts on Estuarine and Marine Environments

Abstract

Wastewater pollution is a ubiquitous threat to the health of marine and estuarine ecosystems, yet it has been severely underestimated in the past. In light of the global sanitation crisis, growing water quality concerns, and rapid aging of wastewater infrastructure worldwide, wastewater inputs have come under greater scrutiny because they are now known to introduce problematic amounts of nutrients, pathogens, and novel contaminants into waterways. Although there have been a few comprehensive investigations of wastewater outfall impacts on nearshore and coastal waters in the past, scientists and environmental managers have increasingly begun to expose the repercussions of wastewater pollution on marine and coastal environments in recent years. This cross-ecosystem synthesis details the extent of domestic wastewater impacts, from individual organisms to ecosystem functions to global trends, and demonstrates a need for a paradigm shift towards sustainable wastewater management.