Estuary Model Tests Expedite Prototype
Studies of Pollution
A. JOEL KAPLOVSKY, Director
Delaware Water Pollution Commission
Dover, Delaware
In recent years added emphasis has been placed upon the need for knowledge about the assimilative capacity of estuaries. The increasing rate of industrial and population growth in the Coastal States of the Northeast,. the
West Coast, and the South has "spotlighted" a need for cleaner estuarine
waters especially in areas where the potentialities of recreation are reasonably great. The pollutional loadings attributed to this growth and development have begun to emphasize their presence in downstream areas heretofore
unaffected by the various discharges. Pending water shortages in these areas
and the need for multiple use have placed added emphasis upon water development and quality.
Certain complexities and variables inherent in estuaries make the understanding of waste stabilization evaluation in such environments considerably
more difficult than in streams subjected to one-directional flow. Similarities
do exist in many estuaries; however, variations in width, depth, configuration and run-off makes it almost impossible to transfer completely knowledge
from one estuarine study to another. In essence, each tidal stream must be
given separate consideration since the dispersion characteristics which affect
the movement of the waste discharges are essentially different. Fortunately,
or unfortunately, as the case may be, some coastal streams are less complex
with regard to stratification, lateral dispersion and other factors. Before one
can intelligently evaluate waste stabilization in any tidal stream, the dispersion of a discharged material must be reasonably well known. It would be
futile to attempt the application of known stabilization theory to a waste
which is discharged into a system when little is known with regard to the distribution characteristics.
Several proposals and theories (1), (15), (16), (18), have been set forth in
the literature with regard to dispersion or circulation formulae for estuaries.
Unfortunately, these proposals or theories have some application only in a
specific estuary where the procedure was developed. Considerable effort of
past research on estuaries has been directed toward providing a universal solution. In many cases, the solution to the more difficult variables has tended
to create differences in the theory of solution among the various researchers.
However, a closer scrutiny of the effect of these difficulty solvable variables
upon the overall pollution problem has shown that in some areas little of the
overall problem would be resolved if and when the complicated aspects were
completely understood.
If the rapid growth and development in the Delaware River Valley, and
possibly in other similar areas, should continue, it is more important to the
stream pollution administrator to have a solution to a present problem which
represents a significant percentage of the loadings and resultant decomposition
rather than to await a comparatively complete solution which mayor may-
not be resolved in an indeterminate period of time.
It is indeed possible that many of the variables or complications existing
in other estuaries are not present in the Delaware River Basin.  The dispersion
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