IV-564 



Of the nearly 22 billion gallons of industrial wastes discharge 

 daily, only 29 percent receive any kind of waste treatment. 



Intensification of use of the estuarine zone has resulted in many 

 artificial changes being made in the physical structure. Shoreline 

 areas have been filled to create more land area for residential and 

 commercial use; channels have been dredged and maintained to permit 

 safer and better navigation; and harbor facilities have been dredged 

 and bridges and causeways have been built. All of this activity has 

 had impact on the coastal zone ecosystem, but the activities having 

 the most impact on water quality are dredging and filling . The 

 potential for pollution of the system exists in both filling and 

 dredging; both can introduce foreign materials into the water, 

 destroy aquatic habitat, and alter physical circulation patterns. 



The primary source of thermal pollution is from industrial cooling 

 water effluents. Power plants are the major users of cooling water 

 in the estuarine zone, and power generation capacity has approximately 

 doubled each decade during this century. The impact of this growth 

 on the estuarine areas is evidenced by the fact that in 1950 22 per- 

 cent of the power plants were in the coastal zone; it is anticipated 

 that over 30 percent of the plants will be located there in the late 

 1970's. 



Estuarine areas are also very important highways of commerce, and 

 thousands of commercial vessels, foreign and domestic, from ocean 



