Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Lecture Notes on Coastal and Estuarine Studies Series, Volume 16.

Easy access to the sea and safe anchorage have made many estuaries the location of early settlements. Initially, land for further development was abundant, depths were large enough to accommodate the small vessels, and except for some local degradation water quality was little affected. However, as the population increased and industries were added, estuary basins were modified to better suit the demands:

• land was reclaimed to allow industry to expand and to create waterfront residential areas
• navigation channels and harbors were dredged to accommodate larger vessels
• causeways and bridges were constructed to ease traffic
• marinas were built to harbor recreational vessels.