Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Coastal and Estuarine Studies, Volume 36.

The pollution of rivers, estuaries and the sea, the associated impact on these ecosystems and the effect on organisms, food-chains, water-supply and finally on man himself are becoming more and more recognized all over the world. Estuaries are often surrounded by highly industrialized and densely populated regions and, consequently, are particularly endangered by anthropogenic polluton. They act in a sense as a link between the limnetic and marine environments and are thus characterized by a variety of complex, mutually interacting physical, chemical and biological processes. A lot of the phenomena are not yet sufficiently understood. This makes efficient water quality management in estuaries a difficult task. The knowledge on the pollution loads that estuaries discharge into the sea is quite fragmentary. According to a recent compilation only 25% of the world-wide 260 major rivers discharging into the oceans are regularly monitored for water quality.