Effect Of Discharge Of Domestic Sewage On Coral Reefs - Research Proposal Example

Effect Of Discharge Of Domestic Sewage On Coral Reefs Abstract Despite the important role that coral reefs play in the ecosystem, various human activities have led to their destruction over the years. This is mostly due to the solid and dissolved wastes released into the sea with insufficient treatment. In Jeddah, the second largest city in Saudi Arabia, the situation is not far from this. One may be left, therefore, wondering if the discharge of domestic sewage in Jeddah is leading to erosion of coral reefs. This research, therefore, will seek to establish the truth of the above research question. A variety of different methods of research will be employed, so as to best achieve the objectives of the research. Among the methods to be used will be live interviews, where various individuals from the department of sewage treatment will be asked questions as to the efficiency of the treatment process. However, the information gotten here will not be used as the primary basis of analysis. Samples will also be taken from the effluents being released from these treatment plants into the sea, with the aim of establishing its purity. This will involve laboratory testing of the presence of any harmful solid or dissolved substances. In addition to that, questionnaires will be prepared to be filled by residents around the Southern Corniche area, regarding how often they dispose of sewage via the municipal treatment stations. This is because past studies have shown that majority of the residents have their own ways of disposing of sewage. Introduction As common sense and knowledge dictates, poisonous or impure water and lack of oxygen is harmful to any kind of living thing. The importance of coral reefs in the ecosystem cannot be underestimated. They act as dwelling places to a variety of aquatic plants and animals. Coral reefs also work to prevent strong sea waves and storms from carrying the water onto the offshore regions. As much as measures have been put forth to monitor the sewage treatment process in Saudi Arabia and Jeddah in particular, the same is not bearing the desired fruits. This is therefore an indication that there is something missing. Literature Review Introduction Marine environment is constantly faced with threats which can be linked to land-based activities. Such activities are urbanization, development of the coast for example dredge and fill operations, industries dealing with desalinization, power and refineries. Recreation and tourism facilities, water treatment plants, mining along the coastline and quarry activities, oil bunkering facilities and finally modification of the habitat conversion and filling of the wetlands (Walker, 2010). A significant number of large coastal development projects in Saudi Arabia which include hotel, restaurants and recreational facilities have increased over the last few years and this has had ripple effects on the marine habitat and environment. The major sewage treatment plants in Jeddah are overloaded and as such, treatment effectiveness is very low leading to low quality of effluent that is emitted in to the red sea. To add to the direct destruction of key habitats and marine life, suspended materials that come from activities such as dredge and fill are likely to result in to rampant marine life destruction. Sedimentation leads to suffocation of benthic communities which has adverse effects on the surrounding ecosystem such as the mangroves, coral reefs and the sea beds. This in turn leads to less productivity of the sea which can be seen through shrimping grounds and demersal fisheries (Walker, 2010). Research question Is the discharge of domestic sewage due to increased population in Southern Corniche in Jeddah leading to the erosion of coral reefs? Imminent threats to the coral reefs A coral reef can be described as a community of living organisms. It comprises of plants, different types of fish and other sea creatures. It is among the most diverse eco-system in the world. Coral reefs have been present for millions of years growing at a very slow rate; all the more reason why the existing corals should be protected. Coral reefs are important in that they absorb wave energy therefore protect shore lines from big waves. Corals also provide a place for the fish to release eggs in to the water, a process known as spawning. Coral reefs are also home to a diversity of sea creatures which are key to tourist attraction. They also provide fish to the people living along the coastline; reefs are a great source some anti cancer drugs and pain killers. According to Spalding et al (2001), Coral reefs also help in carbon cycle and healthy reefs are a sign that the ocean water is of good quality. The very important coastal resources and marine environments are under a series of individual and cumulative threats that can have far reaching effects in the future. The threats are, destruction of the habitat, over exploiting the existing marine resources, degradation of the environment from the many petroleum industries in the city, risk caused by marine transport and pollution from other industries. Urban and tourism development and changes in the environment also pose as a threat to the marine eco-system and particularly the coral reefs. El-rayis (1990) says that coral reefs throughout the whole region are constantly facing destruction from activities such as land filling which are caused by rising levels of urban dwellers and increased tourist activities. Construction along the coast line distorts the flow of clear sea water that corals depend on for survival. The release of untreated or semi-treated water directly to the corals leads to an overgrowth of algae that overshadows the corals. This leads to a reduction of the number of sea creatures living in these corals. It is due to lack of awareness of how important and sensitive the coral reefs are that makes them face destruction. The carbon dioxide absorbed from the sewage in to the sea leads to higher levels of acid in the water which makes it difficult for corals to make their shells. Harmful chemicals present in the sewage emitted in to the sea poison the corals and as such, the living organisms are forced to look for shelter elsewhere. Municipal waste water management has presented serious concerns even with the measures that have been set in motion in the past to curb this. There are two sewage disposals in Jeddah. The old one is the southern Corniche and the other is the new discharge out fall a few kilometers south of the old station. The capacity of sewage in the new sewage discharge outfall is quite high and therefore the sewage is not properly handled to meet environmental requirements (Al-Farawati et al, 2009). Sewerage system in Jeddah Jeddah is among the top largest city in Saudi Arabia. Being the major urban center in the west of Saudi Arabia, it densely populated with more than 3.5 million inhabitants. Population increase over the past few years has seen a rise in the amount of sewage produced (Archambault et al, 2001). This has become a nightmare as the sewage processing plants cannot handle the sewage produced. As such, much of the sewage is released in to the sea untreated. This has created dramatic environmental effect along the coastal area. Concentrations of chemicals such as nitrogen and phosphorous in the water that is close to the discharge are 100 times greater than the normal values for the red sea. El-Sayed (1999) says that a faecal sterol called coprostanol which is an indicator of pollution from sewage is a sure indicator of that there is effluent that is dispersed several kilometers from the point of discharge. The sewage treatment plants south of Jeddah discharge approximately 100,000 m3 of both treated and untreated sewage every day in to the ocean. This is about twelve tones of organic matter. This therefore is likely to cause considerable damage to the local marine habitats. This is the case with most sewage treatment plants in Jeddah which are not able to treat sewage properly according to the required regulations since they are overwhelmed by the increasing population of the urban dwellers in Jeddah (El-Sayed, 1999) . Before 2000, semi-treated sewage water was released in to the coastal waters at southern Corniche. The sewage water outlet was set on the shore about a meter above the surface of the sea. The sewage was then released in a partly enclosed lagoon which was constructed artificially by adding a sand barrier meant to block sewage dispersion down south because of the prevailing wind induced surface water current. It created an extra tank for decantation for the untreated sewage that would be released in to that area. This was part of the treatment operation. The treatment was modified in the year 2000 and taken a few kilometers down south. The new point of emission is about five hundred meters from the shore at the very edge of the fringing reef. As much as the effluent is no longer visible, this has drastically worsened the health situation for both the public and the environment. It has further been manifested by the alga mats layers which are red-brown present between the edges of the reef and the coast and in particular, south of the new effluent. The dark color of the sediments is an indication of more reducing conditions (Gheith & Basaham, 2012). Sewage treatment facilities are setup to facilitate accommodation and treatment of sewage; however, untreated or semi-treated sewage is at times released along the coastal line in Jeddah. This is as a result of rapid development projects in the city and high population growth that has led to an overload in the sewage treatment plants. Their effectiveness has reduced and this in turn has had a significant effect in the eco system and especially the coral reefs which are home to millions of sea species due to the amount of sewage dumped that cause considerable harm (Basham, 1998). Discharge of domestic and industrial sewage has multiplied and therefore has led to an increase in the amount of solid and dissolved organic matter. This organic matter is food for the sub-surface deposit feeders. When the quantity of domestic waste is high, the organisms at the bottom cannot assimilate this increase. Due to the bacterial that has decomposed from the organic matter, concentration of dissolved oxygen reduces to very low levels. This is a critical situation. Deficiency of oxygen is the primary ecological factor that causes severe stress to organisms (Risk et al, 2009). Decrease in dissolved oxygen can also result to reduced compounds such as hydrogen supplied that has adverse effects on aquatic life. According to a report by Marine Reference Collection Centre (1992), foreign substances introduced to the environment may harm human beings as well, indirectly after a series of transformations. Contamination of sea water may be caused by the presence of micro-organisms which is toxic to the coral reefs and the inhabitants and to human life itself. Saudi Arabia is in a desert region and as such, there are not many lakes present. However, at the southern region near Jeddah, the second largest capital city, flamingoes are seen frolicking around the green areas that surround a large water body in the shimmering sun. The water body is not what it seems like. The odor that stems from the lake carries the truth of what is present in the lake. The musk lake has been a dumping site for the domestic waste of the inhabitants over the past few years. The lake was created to handle the extra amounts of sewage due to increased levels in population. It was created to handle waste water until proper sewerage system is created in the area. This has reduced the amount of untreated waste water that goes directly in to the sea from the treatment plants. Waste water from households in Jeddah goes directly without being treated in to the sea through pipes (Al-Farawati et al, 2011). Over two hundred pipes have been collected along the coastline in Jeddah used to dump waste water in to the sea. Increasing population density and the developmental projects near the coastline in Jeddah coupled with the unwillingness of the political class to resolve the issue and limited resources continues to be a great threat to the coral reefs and the entire eco system (Basham et al, 2009). Constructing Proper sewage treatment systems is expensive but is essential for the development of the coral reefs which are crucial to the economy of the country since they are a major tourist attraction. The certainly would not be any risk to the health of the people living near the coastline and especially lovers of sea food as the corals would be healthy and thriving with living organisms. PERSGA report, (2006) has shown that the ever rising population in the city is the major cause of destruction of the ecosystem. The few waste treatment facilities are overloaded already due to high amounts of domestic waste coming from households in Jeddah. This waste water and organic elements are insufficiently handled at the point where they should be purified. This in turn leads to semi treated or raw sewage being released in to the sea. The organic matter becomes food for the algae which eventually overgrows and then overshadows the coral reefs (Gladstone, 2008). This hinders the growth of the coral reefs as they require clean water and light to facilitate their growth. Destruction of corals leads to migration of the living organisms that live and reproduce in the corals. Chemicals present in the sea water also act as barriers to synthesis of oxygen which is vital to the growth of the corals and the entire aquatic life. This will lead in to the death or destruction of the coral reefs. Jeddah began as a small fishing village with mud walled houses but has today grown in population over the past twenty years to become the second largest city in Saudi Arabia. It has a large throughput of visitors as it is a major gateway to the pilgrimage city of Mecca (Abu-Rizaiza, 2002). Only a very small percentage of houses in Jeddah are connected to the municipal sewers. Most of the households have septic or holding tanks, as such; there is a significant amount of sewage that is unpurified going directly in to the sea. However, there is a thin continental shelf which has supported a series of coral reefs. But the health of the coral reefs is dependent on its proximity to the city. Jeddah has a big port which is busy quite busy and such activities near the coastline are a threat to the ecosystem. Studies have in the past been carried out to show just how pollution through domestic sewage affects the corals reefs. One study was carried out at Al-khumrah, south of Jeddah in which five stations were selected both from the old and new sewage outfalls. Sampling was conducted in July, 2010. The study was meant to measure the physical and chemical variables in the water which contained the waste water that was emerging from the outfall (Al-Farawati, 2011). Among the variables that were tested in this particular study was the dissolving of oxygen, temperature and salinity levels. The results of the study showed that there was a variance in the old stations and the new stations with higher concentration of chemicals in the stations linked with the new outfall. This is evidence that the sewage treatment plants are unable to handle the large amounts of waste being produced everyday and therefore unpurified waste is going in to the sea which can only cause destruction to the eco-system. It was evident that the effluent contained solid materials which can eventually be harmful to even the human being who might consume fish which could have has fed on plastic matter. Conclusion Development along the coastline in Jeddah is inevitable due to the increasing population needs. It has however taken place without proper evaluation of the grave consequences it poses to the environment and especially the marine life (El, 2002).The rapid expansion has been done through use of desalinated water as which is dependent on the few sewage treatment plants in Jeddah. This causes an overload and hence waste water is not treated properly before it is dumped in to the sea. This waste water is a serious threat to the development of the coral reefs which are home to a diverse sea population (Montaggioni et al, 1996). A complex coastal zoning is required to protect key marine areas as well as proper developmental planning which will not lead to harming the natural ecosystem. It is necessary to establish pollution monitoring units together with construction of more sewage treatment facilities in Jeddah to handle the growing population. There should also be a review of the set pollution control regulations and a developed contingency plan to control pollution (Spalding, 2001). The municipal should also be assisted by the government in diverting outfalls away from the reefs as well as in proper management of solid and liquid waste that ends up in the sea. The authorities should also invest in silt curtains, berms and necessary mechanical aids to minimize sedimentation around construction projects in along the coastline. Methods and Materials During the study, there are three major methods that will be used to attain the desired objectives. First and foremost, face-to-face interviews will be conducted on the employees working in the two major sewage treatment stations in Jeddah. The aim of this will be to get their views on how sufficient and effective they think the current sewage treatment process is. Secondly, Residents at the coastal region of Jeddah will be given questionnaires to fill, regarding where and how they dump their wastes. The aim of this is to establish their major way of disposing of waste water and other effluents. Thirdly, there will be an analysis of the sewage from the treatment stations, to determine its level of contamination. This will involve laboratory examination and testing, in a bid to establish the effectiveness of the sewage treatment process. Finally, the fourth procedure will be practical in nature, whereby a variety of aquatic organisma will be collected and divided in three groups of four. This will be followed by placing them in three different samples of water believed to have different degrees of contamination, and the same kept under observation for one week. There are various special equipment that will be used in this research. There also will be the use of sterilizing chemicals to ensure that all the equipment used are free from contamination, thermometers to measure the water temperatures, forceps will be used to handle specimen. Large transparent beakers will be used in the collection of water samples. All these equipment will be obtained from the university’s chemistry laboratory. The face-to-face interviews will be conducted on ten employees at the sewage treatment stations. The selection criteria will be to the effect that the employees selected must have worked at the sewage treatment station for at lest one and a half years. This will be so as to ensure that the correspondence is based on an information and knowledge gathered over a period of time. These employees must also be working in two or three different departments within the same sewage treatment station. This will help, because it will mean that the information pertaining to the different departments in the station will be made available. The interview will be a structure kind of interview, whereby the questions asked will be specific in search of specific responses. This will help in avoiding the collection and recording of irrelevant information. All the responses will then be recorded against the relevant questions asked. Some of the questions to be asked will be like, how efficient is the treatment station in handling the increased capacity of sewage emanating from the many households. This kind of question will require the respondent to give the actual account of the situation, together with his own relevant opinion on the same. The interviewees will also be asked to explain the equipment used in the sewage treatment process, and how effective they are or they have been. Each of these interviewees will be asked questions separately but at the same time. This means that there will be more than just one interviewer. This will help in avoiding any bias. These questions will have limits, in that they will only concern things that happen within the sewage treatment station. There will be no questions concerning outside parties, or things that happen outside. The major reason for this is because there will be other ways under plan to gather information regarding what happens at the households and what goes an at the sea where the coral reefs are found. The questionnaire to be filled by two or three residents of the coastal region of Jeddah will seek to establish the ways in which they deal with wastes. How do they dispose off their wastes? This will be seeking to determine the percentage of those that dispose it off through the municipal treatment stations, against those that dispose it off directly into the sea. The main experiment, however, will be the one for determining the effect of these affluents on freshwater organisms; bannerfin shinner and brook trout and marine water organisms; mysid and silverside. These organisms will be purchased from one of the various companies that are known to raise and preserve them. The experiments of sea organisms from each type of water (freshwater lakes and the sea) will be conducted separately and the end of the experiments’ results for each sample compared. Each experiment will involve a process whereby the organisms, two of each kind, are placed in transparent large beakers containing water from three different sources. One beaker will contain waste water from the households along the coastline, the other beaker will contain water released from the treatment stations and the last beaker will contain fresh watere from the tap. Throughout the experiment period, these organisms will be handled in the kinds of temperatures that will support their living. Food substances will also be supplied to them on a regular basis in order to keep them alive. The next step will involve measuring the temperature of every water sample before the beginning of the experiment. The temperature of ach water sample will, however, be measured and recorded at the source. This will be followed by placing the three water samples in a room, whose tempearture, light and air supply are constant. In order to determine the constant temperatures of the experiment room, the daily temperatures of that particular room will be measured and recorded at intervals of two hours for a period of three days. Immediately at the start of the experiment, the water temperatures will be measures, and so will also be the body temperatures and weights of the collected specimen.The collected specimens will then be placed in these beakers randomly, and placed in a single room with constant conditions as stated above. The fairing of the specimens in the beakers will then be closely monitored and observations made and recorded everyday for seven days continuously. After seven days, these organisms will be removed from the beakers and be examined on the same scale. These organisms will then be compared on the basis of various variable, such as weight and general observable condition. The daily records for each water sample will also be compared and analyzed. Also, there will be a data analysis process. This is where the information provided by the respondents in the questionnaires and also the responses given in the face-to-face interviews, will be critically looked into, in order to identify how and to what degree do domestic households contribute to water pollution. The analysis will seek to establish the percentage of those who directly dispose off effluents into the sea, against the percentage of those who dispose off wastes through the sewage treatment stations. There also will be a comparison between those who are aware of the negative impacts of their actions, against those who are not aware of the repercussions. On the other hand, the results from the experiment involving sea creatures in the trasparent beakers will be differentiated in terms of temperature, weight and behavioral observations. The body temperatures of the specimen from each beaker will be measured in intervals of two hours and recorded, in order to determine the trend. Their wight will also be measured and analysed against their body weights before the experiment. Finally, there will be constant observations on their behavioral nature and the level of activeness of every specimen. References Abu-Rizaiza, O. S. (2000). Jeddah City with and without sewerage: Cost comparison. Water Resources Journal, 207, 83-92. Al-Farawati, R. K., El-Maradny, A., & Niaz, G. R. (2009). Fecal sterols and pahs in sewage polluted marine environment along the eastern Red Sea coast, South of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Indian Journal of Marine Sciences, 38, 4, 404-410. Al-Farawati, R. K., Gazzaz, M. O., El, S. M. A., & El-Maradny, A. (2011). 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