Marine-based waste stabilisation ponds: an evaluation of the hydraulic viability

Marine-Based Waste Stabilisation Ponds, formed by floating boom/skirt curtain enclosures anchored in sheltered waters, have recently been proposed for provision of low-cost effluent treatment facilities where land availability is limited in rapidly expanding coastal cities in the Third World. This paper outlines findings from a viability assessment, which drew on a preliminary site evaluation and baseline environmental survey (for a site in sheltered waters in the Far East), laboratory studies involving scale model tests in wave/wind/current flumes, and a structural and design loading study. It focuses on hydraulic and hydrodynamic considerations and reports the study's conclusions.