Urban Planning 



The coastline is not a boundary separating man's activities in the 

 oceans from his endeavoi-s on hind. These activities interrelate in 

 many ways. Sea transportation, for example, must connect with 

 transportation networks on land. Similarly, urban development does 

 not end at the water's edge. As municipalities look increasingly sea- 

 ward for new inhabitable areas, or perhaps offshore airports, corre- 

 lated planning of urban and ocean activities becomes essential. Waste 

 disposal requirements must be correlated with the assimilation capa- 

 bilities of nearby waters. Communities developing a filled-in marsh- 

 land along estuaries may affect nursery groimds of commercial fish 

 species. Damming and filling activities along the coasts — and har- 

 bor development — must anticipate changes in shoreline circulation 

 patterns. Sanitation problems associated with ducks, gulls, and other 

 marine birds near populated areas now become important. Not only 

 do they add to pollution but these marine birds collect in marshes 

 around airports and interfere with aircraft takeoffs. 



Interactions between the sea and land directly affecting man's health 

 and welfare are reflected in numerous Federal programs. Problems 

 of shellfish sanitation, storm damage, shoreline erosion, navigation, 

 and protective harbors have received continuing attention by the 

 Departments of Interior and Health, Education, and Welfare and the 

 Army Corps of Engineers. Radioactivity measurements in the sea, 

 both to identify any danger to our health and to trace ocean currents, 

 have also been supported by the Atomic Energy Commission with 

 new attention required as to byproducts that may reach the sea from 

 nuclear reactors and desalting facilities : radioactive waste, brine, and 

 hot effluents. Those from fossil fuel plants will also need study. 



In view of the importance of recreation to public health and wel- 

 fare. Federal legislation has been enacted to set aside a number of 

 seashore areas for public use. At present only three percent of the 

 shoreline of our States (excluding Alaska) has been set aside for public 

 recreation and natural conservation, and wise land use of such scarce 

 resources requires more understanding of the shoreline itself. 



The Council considered that the pollution of bays and estuaries 

 and the Great Lakes requires special attention. Preliminary studies 

 of several different agencies had already been underway, including 

 joint Federal-State programs to establish and enforce water quality 

 standards for all interstate streams, from the headwaters to the estu- 

 aries, bays, and basins. Accelerating this effort and correlating pro- 

 grams of different agencies add cohesiveness and momentum to de- 

 velopment of water quality standards along our coasts. 



The present levels of Federal support for marine science studies 

 related to estuaries is shown in Table XL 



72 



