Effects of polluting discharges on the Thames Estuary : the reports of the Thames Survey Committee and the Water Pollution Research Laboratory.

  • Great Britain. Thames Survey Committee.
Date:
1964
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Effects of polluting discharges on the Thames Estuary : the reports of the Thames Survey Committee and the Water Pollution Research Laboratory. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    If it were possible to determine the rate of entry of oxidizable matter to the estuary, its distribution under tidal action, its rate of oxidation under different conditions, and the rate of entry of oxygen to the estuary from the air or from other sources, it would be possible to draw up a balance sheet for the whole system, to explain the distribution of dissolved oxygen observed under different conditions, and to predict the distribution under any other conditions. Accordingly, a survey was made of the various sources of polluting matter entering the estuary, including the fresh-water discharges, to give an estimate of the rate of input of oxidizable substances. The rate of oxidation of these materials in estuary water under different conditions was then studied. Measurements were also made, both in the estuary and in tanks and channels in the laboratory, to determine the effects of various factors on the rate at which oxygen dissolves in water from the air. Before the information thus obtained could be used it was necessary to develop and verify a theory which would predict the distribution in the estuary of material discharged to it at known points and then dispersed by the combined action of fresh-water flow and tidal movement. The lack of such a theory had greatly limited the value of work undertaken by the Laboratory on other estuaries—for example those of the Tees and Mersey*—and much of the total effort of the present investigation was given to the solution of this problem. | In Chapters 2-4 the physical characteristics of the estuary, and the quantity and nature of the various discharges entering it, are examined. The next three chapters are concerned with changes in the condition of the estuary, and this section includes, in Chapter 6, a statistical analysis of some 30 years’ records. The various processes of oxidation relevant to the condition of the water are discussed in Chapter 8 and, arising from this and from the information concerning the sources of pollution examined in Chapter 4, the effective loads of oxidizable material entering from these sources are assessed (Chapter 9); reduction processes are considered in Chapter 10. The results of physical and chemical examination of bottom deposits and a study of the overall balance of solid matter in the estuary (Chapter 11) are followed by a corresponding study of the balance of oxygen (Chapter 12). From this latter balance a figure is obtained for the average rate of solution of atmos- pheric oxygen; other methods of determining this rate are discussed in Chapter 13, where the factors which affect it are also examined. The next five chapters are concerned with the development of a theory of tidal mixing for the Thames Estuary (Chapters 14-15) and of the use of this theory, initially in calculating the distributions of temperature (Chapter 16) and of oxygen (Chapter 17) in the estuary and comparing them with the observed distributions, and then in attempting to calculate the changes to be expected in the estuary if certain changes were made in the controllable factors that affect its condition (Chapter 18). Finally, the application of the knowledge gained from the whole work to the management of the Thames and other estuaries is discussed (Chapter 19). REFERENCES 1. Bootu, G. H., Cooprr, A. W., and TrLieEr, A. K. J. appl. Chem., Lond., 1963, 13, 211. 2. DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH. Survey of the River Tees. Part I— Hydrographical. Water Pollution Research Technical Paper No. 2. H.M. Stationery Office, London, 1931. 3. DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH. Survey of the River Tees. Part II—The Estuary—Chemical and Biological. Water Pollution Research Technical Paper No. 5. H.M. Stationery Office, London, 1935 (reprinted 1961). 4. DEPARTMENT OF SCIENTIFIC AND INDUSTRIAL RESEARCH. Fstuary of the River Mersey. The Effect of the Discharge of Crude Sewage into the Estuary of the River Mersey on the Amount and Hardness of the Deposit in the Estuary. Water Pollution Research Technical Paper No. 7. H.M. Stationery Office, London, 1938 (reprinted 1961).
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