IV-557 



SECTION 3: 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 environ- 

 ment was not noticeable and apparently insignificant with the 

 development of a civilization based on a complex socioeconomic 

 environment, however, his impact on the natural environment has 

 increased until now the most accurate term to express the relationship 

 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 includes 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 which are part 

 of the 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 by the most delicate and sensitive tests 

 and, even then, the presence of some highly dangerous materials or 

 conditions can only be inferred by indirect evidence. 



