34 



EXTENT OF POLLUTION EFFECTS 



Enviromnental damage from human activities manifests itself in 

 changes in water quality and in changes in the living communities. 

 Either or both may be caused by any of the kinds of pollution or 

 sources of pollution mentioned earlier. One key to the degree of envi- 

 ronmental impact is measurement of alteration in water quality. 

 Extensive data have been collected on a few of the estuaries with the 

 most severe problems, and limited information is available on other 

 estuarine systems to outline the emergence, or document the existence, 

 of water quality problems. 



Examples of estuarine systems that show definite documented water 

 quality degradation as a result of human activities are these : Penob- 

 scot Bay, Boston Harbor, Moriches Bay, New York Harbor, Earitan 

 Bay, Delaware Estuary, Baltimore Harbor, Potomac River, James 

 River, Charleston Harbor, Savannah River, Biscayne Bay, San Juan 

 Harbor (P.R.), Tampa Bay, Pensacola Bay, Mississippi River, Gal- 

 veston Bay, Laguna Madre, San Diego Bay, Los Angeles Harbor, 

 San Francisco Bay, Columbia River, Puget Sound, Silver Bay 

 (Alaska), and Hilo Harbor (Hawaii). 



PoUutional damage to estuarine ecosystems may be sudden and 

 dramatic as fish or other aquatic life forms suddenly dying, or it may 

 be so gradual as not to be noticed for many years. Many studies of 

 different aspects of estuarine biology have been made, but there are 

 only a few cases in which comprehensive ecological studies have been 

 made of pollutional effects. 



All of the 25 estuarine systems listed above also show some eco- 

 logical damage, but in 38 percent of the estuarine systems of the 

 United States there is not sufficent information to decide whether there 

 is no ecological damage, or whether there is just no easily identifiable 

 pollution problem present. 



The complex nature of pollution in the estuarine zone prevents the 

 separation of sources of pollution, kinds of pollution, and types of 

 environmental damage into neat compartments of cause and effect. 

 All of human activities in the estuarine zone can damage the environ- 

 ment and most of them do. 



Wherever people live, work, and play in the estuarine zone the 

 demands of their social and ecomonic activities place stresses on the 

 biophysical environment. These stresses frequently result in degrada- 

 tion of the environment, perhaps not immediately or even in a few 

 years, but nonetheless certain in its devasting final impact. 



Use Conflicts and Damages: Man's Battle With Himself and 



Nature 



The consequence of damage to the biophysical environment is loss 

 of use either immediately or at some time in the future. Loss of use, 

 however, may also be associated with the appropriation of part of the 

 estuarine resource for one exclusive use even when no damage to the 

 environment itself occurs. 



Institutional management must cope with the problems of respon- 

 sibility and authority in achieving maximum multiple use of the 

 estuarine resource. Within this comprehensive framework technical 

 management must resolve the problems surrounding conflicts of use, 



