Major Pollution Incidents Research Articles

DISPOSAL OF OIL SPILL DEBRIS

ABSTRACT A landfill was designed and constructed for the disposal of approximately 8,500 yards of debris collected in the cleanup of a major pollution incident in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island. The debris primarily consisted of sand and gravel, but also included logs, large rocks, and tires picked up during the beach cleanup. The landfill was constructed as a single cell with a sandy-silt base and cover with monitoring wells to sample the groundwater. The debris was layered in alternate layers of one foot of debris and six inches of clean fill within the cell. The results of the analysis of samples of the groundwater, to date, indicate no increase in the total organic carbon or phenolic content.

The Kent coast in 1971

Major pollution incidents are sometimes well documented but the cumulative effect of successive minor incidents, chronic pollution, and other human activities on the coast is less noticed though perhaps no less serious. This is another annual diary of the human impact on one stretch of coast.