ABSTRACT
The Terminal Island sewage treatment plant (TITP) discharged wastes which had undergone primary treatment into outer Los Angeles Harbor from the 1920s until April 1977 when the plant was converted to secondary treatment. The benthic fauna near the discharge in the 1950s was dominated by the polychaete Capitella capitata and had a species diversity of H'=0.04. Species diversity increased to an average of 1.33 as a result of general harbor cleanup in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A further increase in species diversity to 1.7 occurred following diversion of the fish cannery wastes to TITP after installation of secondary treatment.
