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CONCLUSIONS 
The preliminary investigations of sewage sludge dumping in the New York 
Bight have resulted in the following conclusions. Sewage sludge has been 
continuously dumped at the existing 12-Mile Site since 1924 with no 
evidence of significant accretion or evidence that the New York Bight has 
not been able to assimilate these wastes. Sewage sludge is a minor (1-10 
percent) source of total annual contaminant loadings to the New York 
Bight waters and removal of this input would be unlikely to result in any 
significant recovery. Similarly, the contribution of sewage sludge to 
constituent levels in sediments, the water column, and biota is 
relatively small and is related to the percent contribution relative to 
other Bight inputs. 
The much publicized 1976 anoxia event, the Long Island beach pollution by 
floatables, and the sewage sludge "monster" have been studied extensively 
and it has been concluded that ocean dumping of sewage sludge was, at 
most, a minor factor. EPA concluded that continued dumping at the exist- 
ing site is not a present threat to either public health or to water 
quality along New York and New Jersey beaches. Finally, each of the 
feasible land-based alternatives to ocean disposal have identified 
unavoidable adverse impacts. Technical evidence clearly does not justify 
removing sewage sludge dumping from the New York Bight apex--a conclusion 
recently supported by both NOAA and EPA. 
Based on the current understanding of the (anticipated) effects of sewage 
sludge disposal via ocean dumping, incineration/pyrolysis, and land 
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