Issues and Information Needs 
R.W. McFarlane, T.J. Bright, B.W. Cain, M. Hightower, J.J. Kendall, J. W. Kolb, 
A J. Mueller, P.F. Sheridan, C.B. Smith, E.G. Wermund, T.E. Whitledge 1 
R.W. McFARLANE—Galveston Bay today is a sea of controversy, as proponents of development 
and protectors of natural resources challenge opposing claims of no-effect and environmental 
calamity. Any large, heavily industrialized city adjacent to an estuary will eventually impinge on the 
water quality of the waterway. A review of existing conditions and predictable changes in water 
quality of the Galveston Bay system must acknowledge that everything is connected to everything 
else, and it is impossible to do merely one thing. A change in one factor influencing the bay will 
automatically produce changes in other facets of bay dynamics. 
Population and industrial growth always produce byproducts, some of which are waste materi¬ 
als, and everything has to go someplace. The law of gravity ensures that material transport is 
downhill, and Galveston Bay will be a temporary repository for these waste materials as they 
inexorably move toward the Gulf of Mexico and beyond. Even substances that are removed by waste 
treatment procedures have not disappeared. It can be assumed that all waste products released into 
the environment may be transported by natural processes to places other than the point of release, 
and that many will be transformed into other chemical or physical forms during this process. Many 
of the chemicals will be incorporated into living organisms by the process of bioaccumulation, and 
some will be biomagnified to higher concentrations with each transfer along the food chain. As these 
chemicals interact with each other in the environment, they are likely to produce synergistic effects 
greater than any one of them could invoke acting alone. 
Finally, we must acknowledge that everything is constantly changing. Even if all development 
and population growth were to cease today, the components of the Galveston Bay ecosystem will 
continue to change. Our challenge is to sort out the effects of changes induced by man and identify 
those that need to be modified and minimized. We must carefully weigh the benefits of development 
projects against the costs to the commonweal. The continued health and productivity of Galveston 
Bay are in the best interests of everyone. 
The focus of our immediate concern is the ability of Galveston Bay to sustain, or enhance, its 
present commercial and sport fishery productivity and recreational value while facing numerous 
development projects (Table 4.1), underway or proposed, that can affect water quality. Some of these 
developments are large federal projects with potentially significant impacts. Others are small 
shoreline modifications proposed by private developers that, cumulatively, significantly reduce the 
acreage of shoreline wetland vegetation and productive bay bottom. The common thread that links 
all of them is the substantial population growth that the area has experienced. Population and 
industrial growth have increased the demand for natural resources and disposition of waste 
materials. 
Issues 
The critical issues associated with these projects are (1) water quality changes in the bay and its 
tributaries, which transport nutrients and both treated and untreated wastewater to the bay; (2) 
’R.W. McFarlane represents McFarlane & Associates; T.J. Bright and M. Hightower, Texas Sea Grant 
Program; B.W. Cain and A. Mueller, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; J. Kendall and J.W. Kolb, Texas Water 
Commission; P. Sheridan, National Marine Fisheries Service; C.B. Smith, Texas General Land Office; E.G. 
Wermund, Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin; T.E. Whitledge, The University of 
Texas at Austin Marine Science Institute. 
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