Sludge disposal to sea - Liverpool Bay bed ripple survey 1984

For economical and practical reasons a significant amount of the UK's sewage sludge is disposed to British coastal waters. The consequences of this form of disposal on the marine environment and coastline are of great importance and have been the subject of intensive investigation. Hydraulics Research has been involved for many years in studying the behaviour of sewage sludges discharges into the marine environment. Recent laboratory research concerned with the deposition and erosion of sludge on a rippled sand bed revealed a lack of suitable field data on near-bed velocities and associated movement of a sand bed. Hydraulics Research mounted a survey in Liverpool Bay, an area where sewage sludge is dumped, in order to measure these variables. Some instrument failure during this survey resulted in data loss but sufficient data was collected to provide a useful field record. This report presents the data obtained on the survey and comments on the results.