Re-assessing the extent of impact of Malta's (central Mediterranean) majorsewage outfall using ERS SAR

ERS SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) imagery has been used to re-assess the g eographical extent of coastal area, which is exposed to environmental impac t from Malta's main sewage outfall at Wied Ghammieq, The outfall presently discharges almost 80% of all the wastewater produced on the island, untreat ed into the sea. This is carried out through a 716 m long submarine outfall equipped with a terminal diffuser. A number of past shortterm field survey s had indicated that the geographical extent of the impacted area may exten d up to 8 km southeast of the outfall, especially when the submarine outfal l is malfunctioning, SAR imagery, review ed in the present study, indicates that the geographical extent of the impacted coastline may be in fact thre e times longer than originally estimated, Support for this suggestion is pr esented through a review of bathing water quality of areas upstream and dow nstream to the present outfall, (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.