11-51 

 POLLUTION: THE IMPACT OF HUMAN SOCIETY ON THE ESTUARINE ENVIRONMENT 



Man has always used the biophysical environment as he needed it for 

 survival and thrown back into it his waste products and anything 

 else he did not need. As long as civilization was limited to small 

 towns and villages the impact of such treatment on the estuarine 

 environment was not noticeable and apparently insignificant. With 

 the development of a civilization based on a complex socinpcnnonn'c 

 environment, however, his impact on the natural environment has 

 increased until now the most accurate term to exDress the relation- 

 ship of man to his biophysical environment is "pollution." 



"Pollution" is the degradation of the biophysical environment by 

 man's activities; it is no longer limited to the discharge of 

 sewage and industrial wastes, but now induces direct or indirect 

 damage to the environment by physical, chemical, or biological 

 modification. 



Environmental degradation is the result of often minute changes 

 in water quality, water circulation, or other conditions wnich are 

 part of tne biophysical estuarine environment. There are brightly 

 colored or otherwise visible waste materials which have obvious 

 pollutional implications, but by far the deadliest pollutants are 

 those which are invisible and often unsuspected until the damage 

 is done. These pollutants can be found only oy the most delicate 



