European environmental regulations

Volume 7/Number 2/February 1976 problems of sewage disposal to the sea. It was agreed that an international symposium should be held, in which the leading protagonists of particular viewpoints would present the scientific grounds for their contentions. Other important issues, such as the assessment of bacterial mortality in the sea, were later included too. The proceedings contains the 42 invited papers presented at the symposium, together with edited The literature on tropical marine pollution is widely summaries of the discussion. Session A on regional scattered, and marine scientists have tended to base their problems discussed the situation in various parts of the discussions of tropical marine pollution on the basis of world. Session B was on indicators of sewage pollution. well-known but sometimes inappropriate principles Session C was on microbial standards, and included developed in temperate waters. papers on the case for and against microbial standards for To help remedy this problem a book has now appeared bathing beaches. Session D dealt with the effects of nonwhich discusses tropical marine pollution, with chapters microbial pollutants, such as heavy metals. Session E provided by various authors under relevant headings. dealt with sewage treatment, and included papers on the There are chapters on particular ecosystems, such as coral reef communities, mangroves, and sea grasses, and case for and against. Session F and G discussed microbial chapters on particular pollutants, thermal effluents and mortality. Session H dealt with initial dispersion from desalination plant effluents. A useful list of references outfalls, and session J with subsequent dispersion. brings together the scattered literature. (Ferguson Wood, Sessions K and L dealt with predictive modelling. E. J., and Johannes, R. E., editors (1975). Tropical (Gameson, A. L. H., editor. Discharge of sewage from sea Marine Pollution. Vol. ix, 192 pp. Oxford, Elsevier, outfalls. Proceedings of an international symposium, London, 27 August-2 September 1974. Vol. xiv, 455 pp. (Elsevier Oceanography Series 12). Oxford; Pergamon Press, (1975). (Supplement to Progress in Water Technology)).

Tropical Marine Pollution

European Environmental Regulations Stichting CONCAWE has produced a revised and extended version of their report on regulatory guidelines of environmental concern to the oil industry in Western Europe. Thereport gives details of relevant environmental regulations on fuel-oil sulphur content, gasoline composition, gasoline engine vehicle emissions, noise control, oil pipelines and wastewater effluents. (Stichting CONCAWE (1976). Published regulatory guidelines of environmental concern to the oil industry in Western Europe. 35 pp. The Hague, Stichting CONCAWE, (Report No. 1/76).

WPCF 49th Conference The United States Water Pollution Control Federation are to hold their 49th annual conference in Minneapolis, Minnesota, from 3-8 October 1976. Among sessions of interest are an international session on marine pollution and its hazards, prevention and cleanup. The potential for possible oil spills resulting from the use of larger tankers and the transportation of oil from Arctic regions have focussed greater attention on the problem. For details of all sessions, write to Water Pollution Control Federation, 3900 Wisconsin Avenue NW, Washington, DC, 20016, USA.

Sea Outfall Sewage Discharge The Proceedings of an International symposium on the discharge of sewage from sea outfalls, held in London from 27 August to 2 September 1974, have recently been published. The symposium arose out of the work of the then Water Pollution Research Laboratory at Stevenage, now part of the Water Research Centre. A Coastal Pollution Research Committee, established to advise the laboratory on its programme of work, decided in 1972, with staff at Stevenage, that the time was right to see whether some agreement could be reached among the professionals involved in various countries in the

Coastal Engineering The American Society of Civil Engineers, in association with the State of Hawaii and other organizations, is sponsoring the 15th International Conference on Coastal Engineering, to be held in Honolulu, Hawaii, from 11-17 July 1976. Subjects to be discussed will include (a) The behaviour of winds, waves, currents, tides, storm surges, tsunamis, estuaries, sediments, beaches and dunes, (b) The characteristics of diffusion 39