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and flexible pipe lines for use in port to connect direct from the main shipboard discharge to
shore sewer. The discharge to sewage from ship is controlled in London by the Port Authority
in their capacity as both port and river authority. It would appear that the biological treatment
plants have run into operational difficulties in that the disposal effluent is not of a standard
acceptable to port or river authorities for discharge into closed docks and rivers. The retention
of sewage on board system is convenient so long as the vessels stay in poft, itself a current
problem, is within the storage limit. Any necessary ejection of several days bulk can create
problems and the time and place of ejection should be agreed with the port pollution control
officers, so as to minimise nuisance and pollution problems. One system of chemical treatment
and recirculation of the scented effluent has no port disposal problems which is an advantage
over other systems, but is considered to be unattractive in some quarters on aesthetic grounds.
The Jeger Report (5) recommended that the discharge of sewage from boats into fresh water should
be prohibited. Discharges from ships including naval vessels, into estuaries and tidal waters,
should be controlled where necessary by authorities responsible for water conservation.
Further developments may be expected through measures to be introduced for the tightening
up of existing legislation such as the "consents" by the eleven Sea Fisheries Committees under
byelaws in their districts in relation to the deposit or discharge of any solid or liquid substance
detrimental to sea fish or sea fishing in accordance with conditions laid down and in the area
prescribed in the "consent".
The East Suffolk and Norfolk River Authority have recently made Byelaws regulating the use
of boats fitted with sanitary appliances on the Norfolk Broads. The Byelaws are due to come
into force on the 1st January, 1973. The Byelaws, the first to be made to cover inland amenity
and pleasure waters, will doubtless be noted with interest by other authorities.
In 1966 there were Draft Regulations issued for the control of pollution in the St. Lawrence
Seaway (appendix II) but it is not known whether they have been amended or confirmed.
There was a press announcement early in 1971 of a nation wide survey, to be completed by
early Spring, aimed at determining the pattern and movement of Britain's mushrooming industrial
waste treatment and disposal problem (16).
SECTION VII - CONCLUSION AND COMMENTS
The Minister for the Environment has said that the Department faced four major priorities.
The first was housing, followed by planning and the need to develop clear regional strategies.
The third was Local Government reform and fourthly the improvement of the quality of the environment.
The Department's approach to pollution is threefold; assessing the priorities, seeing what
amount of pollution can be prevented if at all possible, and what can be cleared up if prevention
is not possible.
With the greater mobility of the population, more and more people are visiting lakes, rivers
and coastal resorts at home and abroad.They are all now very much aware of all forms of pollution
of their holiday environment and are increasingly inclined to complain. The complaints previously
unchannelled are now being co-ordinated by many public spirited "ginger groups". The public
are aware of the possibility that bathing on beaches at home and abroad may carry the risk of
infectious disease, which causes anxiety. Spoilage of clothing and equipment by oil on beaches
has ruined many holidays.
The Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution and the Working Party on Sewage Disposal
both agree that there is an urgent need for comprehensive enquiry into the extent of discharges
and the dumping of wastes into tidal waters, estuaries and seas around our coasts and into the
kind of control which should be exercised.
Refuse disposal is now being given increasingly high priority in local authority thinking
and more incinerators, pulverisers, shredders, balers and composting plants are being introduced.
Many of the sewage disposal authorities are increasingly aware of the bio-chemically resistant
organisms which may pass through plants and which could ultimately permeate and pollute
drinking water supplies. The Metropolitan Water Board are particularly active in this field and
regular monitoring of the River Lee and River Thames at the Board's intakes for enteroviruses
has been carried out for a number of years. Results since 1968 have been published (17).
The Royal Commission takes the view that the use of atomic power will require arrangements
for waste disposal on a far larger scale than at present. These arrangements will be of concern
not only to Britain but to all nations generating power from atomic energy and the problem,
though not imminent, is one which will have to be solved at international level and it needs
foresight now.