Some industrial chemical wastes form flocs or particles upon being introduced into seawater. High frequency acoustic backscattering systems have been used to study the dispersion of the particulate phase of industrial chemical waste in a water column (depths of >1500 m) with a sharp seasonal thermocline. The particles have been found to remain trapped for extended periods (at least 74 hours) in the mixed layer, to accumulate on the density structure found between the mixed layer and the seasonal thermocline, to accumulate on the density structure associated with the seasonal thermocline, and on occasion, to penetrate the seasonal thermocline and form a diffuse cloud in the main thermocline. The effluent phase of the chemical waste, which was tagged with rhodamine WT dye, has been found to remain in the vicinity of the particulate phase of the waste.