27 



could not exist on a large scale, and without commercial navigation 

 the great cities around these harbors would not have developed. 



Deepwater harbors are essential elements of the national defense 

 system. Furthermore, the location of these deepwater ports has in- 

 fluenced the location of other defense installations as well as the indus- 

 trial complexes necessary for the logistical support of the defense 

 effort. 



The cost of the national defense effort in the estuarine zone for 1967 

 is estimated at about $900 million, exclusive of pay and allowances for 

 shore-based Navy and Marine Corps personnel. The economic impact 

 of national defense activity overlaps into all other estuarine zone uses 

 because of the massive payrolls associated with it. This impact is 

 centered in the areas with major defense installations. 



Waste disposal 



The waters of the estuarine zone have received wastes from the peo- 

 ple and industries on their shores ever since the first cities were 

 founded. The economic benefit in the use of estuarine waters for waste 

 disposal has been fully utilized by nearly all industries and communi- 

 ties in the estuarine zone, and only the tremendous capacity of estu- 

 arine waters to absorb and remove waste materials has kept the estu- 

 arine zone from suffering severe damage from such waste discharges. 



No overall estimate of the value of this use of the estuarine resource 

 is possible because the level of treatment necessary in any particular 

 case depends on many local factors. 



While the use of estuarine waters for waste disposal may not be 

 esthetically appealing it is an existing estuarine use with which other 

 uses must compete, and it should be considered along with them in the 

 overall economic evaluation of estuarine uses. 



Eosamples of socioeconomic environments in the estuarine zone 



Almost all estuarine systems have either a multiplicity of uses at 

 the present time or such uses are available in the system. Estuaries 

 presently support such varied uses as military berthing and associated 

 activities, commercial port facilities, shipping channels, industrial 

 uses, commercial fisher'es, sport fishing, recreation, wildlife habitat, 

 and purely esthetic purposes. In most estuaries one or two of the uses 

 predominate while the others take minor roles. 



Narragansett Bay is an ideal example of an estuary that has devel- 

 oped in an unbalanced fashion. That is, the economic value of the 

 estuary at the present time is largely associated with the industrial, 

 military, and transportation uses of its waters. Other uses are, of 

 course, made of the estuary but their economic significance is dwarfed 

 by the tremendous magnitude of the military and commercial uses. 

 However, it must be remembered that this economic measure is merely 

 an indicator of the value of the waters and is not in any way related 

 to the right or necessity of polluting such waters in the process of 

 achieving this value. In fact, the only time that such an economic 

 measure would be used would be for comparing one total use of the 

 estuary to another total use. Of course, it is seldom that questions 

 are so broad as to cover either/or propositions for the entire activity. 

 Rather, the questions usually revolve around such things as the benefits 

 to be derived from reducing pollution caused by users of the estuary 

 compared with the costs of achieving the reduction in pollution. 



