201 



The three other urban regions which are expected to develop in the 

 estuarine regions by the year 2000 are described below: 



(1) The central gulf coast is expected to have a population of 

 2.1 million by 1980. By 2000 the region is projected to reach from 

 Baton Rouge, La., to Pensacola, Fla. and contain 4.7 million 

 people. 



(2) The Texas-Louisiana gulf coast roughly parallels the coast 

 and has experienced substantial growth in recent decades. The 

 region extends from Houston to Lake Charles, La., and is expected 

 to grow in population from 1.8 million in 1960 to 5 million in 

 2000. 



(3) The Puget Sound which will expand its area to include 

 additional population to the Canadian border, will increase in 

 population from 2.5 million persons in 1980 to 3.6 million in 2000. 



Urban growth has both a direct physical impact on estuarine re- 

 sources in the usurpation of land for development purposes, and an 

 indirect impact in increased runoff, changed water composition, and 

 increased demand for water supplies. 



Other implications are also important. By and large, urban popula- 

 tions are those which most strongly feel the effects — ^ood and bad — 

 of increased per capita income, leisure time, and mobility. There are, 

 speaking very generally, three segments of the urban population af- 

 fected by these forces, and they react differently in terms of the estua- 

 rine environment. The groups and the implications are : 



(1) High income: Urban residents with high income place 

 pressure on the estuarine environment some distance from their 

 place of residence. They are able to afford either second homes or 

 extended stays at vacation resorts. Much of the total national 

 demand expressed by that segment of the population in the upper 

 middle and high income brackets falls on the nonurban portions 

 of the coastal-estuarine zone. 



(2) Middle income: Those persons with middle range incomes 

 either opt for new housing in the suburban ring surrounding the 

 central city or choose to remain within the central city. In either 

 case, their mobility is increased by their ability to afford leisure 

 time activities removed from their place of residence. The pressure 

 is likely to fall on public areas in the coastal-estuarine zone. 



(3) Low income : Residents of the central city with low incomes 

 are not able to leave the confines of the central city. Their enjoy- 

 ment of the coastal-estuarine zone resources is tied tightly to the 

 quality of the coastal-estuarine interface within the central city 

 itself. 



FUTURE DISTRIBUTION' OF POPULATION GROWTH IN THE 

 BIOPHYSICAL. REGIONS 



Table IV.4.1 gives a comparative breakdown of population growth 

 rates in the estuarine economic areas defined by the Office of Business 

 Economics (OBE) compared to national growth. Individual areas 

 showing a population growth rate lower than the Nation's during the 

 1930-60 period are clustered in the north and middle Atlantic bio- 

 physical regions and include the Maine coast, Massachusetts-Rhode 



