This book is a result of, and a contribution to, the UNESCO ecohydrology pro-

granune, which is a component of IHP-VL lt has been made po"ible as a result

of my collaboration with the European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology, under
the auspices of UNESCO, L6dz, Poland. This book is also endorsed by Japan-
based EMECS (International Center for Environmental Management of Enclosed
Coastal Seas) and SCOR (Scientific Committee on Oceanic Research).

Cover photo: Infrared aerial photo of the mouth of the Parker River and Northern
Plum Island Sound, Newbury, Massachusetts, U.S.A, 1:25,000 scale.
ESTUARINE
ECOHYDROLOGY

ERIC WOLANSKI, PhD, DSc, FTSE, FIE Aust

AL/stralian InstitL/te of MarinfJ Sci~nce
Townsville
Australio

ELSEVIER
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Dr. Eric Wolanski PhO OSc, FTSE, FIE Auat, is a coastal oceanographer and
l I

a leading scientist at the Australian Institute of Marine Science. He obtained a

B.Sc. degree in civil engineering from the Catholic University of Louvain, a M.5c.
degree in civil und geological engineering from Princeton University, and a Ph.D.
in environmental engineering from The Johns Hopkins University.
His research interests range from the oceanography of coral reefs, mangroves,
and Inudd y estuuries, to th e interaction bctween physical and biological pro-
cesses determining ecosystem health in tropical waters. He has more than 300
publications.
He io n fel low of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and
Engineering, the Instihltion of Engineers Australia, and I' Academie Roya le des
Sc.iences d'Outre-Mer. He was awarded an Australian Centenary medal for ser-
vices in ef,tuarmc and conGtai ocennogrnphy, n Doctornte Honoris Causa from the
Catholic University of Louvain, and a Queensland Information TeclUlology and
TelecommlUlication award for excellence.
He is the chief editor of Estual'il'lC, Coastal and Shelf Scicncc and Wetlands Ecology
alld Managemellt. He is a member of the editorial board of foumnl of Coastal
Research, formwl of Ma,-h,e Systems, and Contillelltal Shelf Research. He is a member
of the Scientific and Po li cy COlnmittce of the Ja.pan'a-baocd Intcrnational Centcr
for EnvirolUnental Management of Enclosed Coastal Seas. He is an Erasmus
Mundus scholar. He is listed in Australia's Who's Who.

v
 ".\

1. Introduction
1.1. What is an estuary? 1
1.2. Humanity and estuaries 2
1.2.1. Sedimentation from sediment eroded from cleared land
in the hinterland 2
1.2.2. Overfishing and trawling 4
1.2.3. Destruction of wetlands 5
1.:2.4. £utrophkation 5
1.2.5. Pollution 8
1.2.6. Dams 9
1.2.7. Dykes: for flood protection 10
1.2.8. Human health risks 10
1.3. The future of estuaries and the quality of life of the human population
liv ing o n its shores 11
1.4. The solution 12
1.5. Ecohydrology sc ience: the structure of this book 14

2. Estuarine water circulation 17

2.1. The average reSidence time 17
2.2. The age of water 18
2.3. Exposu re tim e vs. residence time 21
2.4. Vert iCal m!x lng and StratifiCatiOn 23
2.5. Lateral stratification, trapping, and shear 28
2.6. The importance of the bathymetry on flushing 31
2.7. The Imporrance of flows near rhe river mourh on flushing 36
2.8. The speCial case of lagoons 39

3. Estuarine sediment dynamics 41

3.1. Geomorphological t ime scales 41
3.2. Sediment dynamics 45
3.2.1. The distinction between mud, silt and sand 45
3.2.2. Sand dynamics 47
3.2.3. Mud dynamics 49
3.2.4. Engineering implications 57
3.2.5. Biological implications 57

vii
viii Contents

3.1 Net sediment budgets 59

13.1. The age of estuaries 59
3.3.2. Net erosion or progradation 6U
3.3.3. Formation of mudflats 63
3.3.4. Formation of tidal wetlands by the vegetation colonizing
bare intertidal areas 6b
3.4. The size of the mout h 68

4. Tidal wetlands 71
4.1. Dcscription 71
4.2. Hydrodynamics 74
4.3. Walle attenuation by wetland vegetation 76
1 .1. Ecological processes within <:l tidal wctland 78
4.4.l. Mangroves 79
4.4.2. Saltmarshes 81
1 .'1.3. Supr.:ltid.:ll mudA.:lts 82
4.5. Enhancement of estuarine fisheries productivity by outweU ing
from tidal wet lands 83
4.6. Groundwater flow 85
4.6.1. Mangroves 85
4.6.2. Salt marshes 87
-1.7. Physics-biology links 87

5. Estuarine food webs 91

5.l. Simple food webs 91

5.n Definitions 91
5.l.2. Clear waters 93
5.2. The key role of detritus 93
5.3. The role of ,groundwater 97
5.4. Link to pelagic food web (fisheries) 97
5.5. Estuarine ecology 98
5.6. Over-stressed ecosystems 100
5.7. Seagrass and coral reefs 104

6. Ecohydrology models 107

6.l. Engineering models 108
6.2. Ecosystem models 111
6.2.l. Predator-prey relationship 111
6.2.2. Estuarine ecosystem models 113
6.2.3. An estuarine ecohydrology model 114
6.3. Coral reef ecohydrology model 120
 Contents ix

7. Ecohydrology solutions 125

7.l. Freshwater 125
1.2. t stuanes 126
7.3. Coastal waters 127
7.4. Managing human health threats 128
I.':J. Habitat creation 129
7.5.1. Saltmarshes 129
7.5.2. Mangroves 131
7.5.3. Seagrass 132
7.5.4. Coral reefs 132
7.5.5. Sediment capping 133
7.0. Protection against natural hazards 133
7.7. A futu re for estuaries and coastal waters? 135

I<eferences 139

Index 155
 Introduction

1.1. WHAT IS AN ESTUARY?

An estuary receives, occasionally or frequently, an Inflow of bOtll freshwater

and saltwater; it stores these waters temporarily while mixing them. An estuary
is a buffer zone between river (freshwater) and ocean (saltwater) environments
that may be affected by tid al uscillatiuns. Must estuaries were established by the
flooding of river-eroded or glacially-scoured valleys during the Holocene rise
of sea level starting about 10,000-12,000 years ago. Because it progressively fills
wilh sedhnenl, an eS luary has an age, akin Lo a living organislll in evolution. It
starts with youth, it matures, and it then becomes old; it can be rejuvenated.
The term "estuary" is derived from the Latin word "aestuarium", this means
tidal. This definitiun I::> huwevef ovef-n::striclive because es lUdfies also oce lU· in
conditions with no tides such as the rivers discharging into the tideless Baltic Sea
and the Danube Delta in the tideless Black Sea.
Thel-e have been several definitions of an estuary, such as that of Dio11J"'Ie
(1963): "An estuary is an inlet of the sea, reaching into the river valley as far as the upper
limit of tidal rise, usually divisible into three seclors: a) a marine 01" lower estuary, in free
connection with the open sea; d) a rniddlc estuary, subject to strong salt and freshwater
mixing; mld c) an upper or fluvial estuary, characterized by freshwater but subject to
daily tidal activity".
There nrc other definition5 of an c3tunry_ For In::; tancc Pt-itchord (1967) defined
an estuary as a semi-enclosed coastal body of water, which has a free COHllectioll with
U

the open sea, and within which sea water is measurably diluted with fresh water derived
from land drainage". This definition based on salinity h as been accepted for the
last forty years. It excludes a number of coastal water bodies such as hyper-saline
tropical lagoons with no perennial inflows; it also seems to exclude seasonally
closed lagoons; it explicitly excludes the Baltic Sea, the Seto Inland Sea in Japan,
and other brackish seas.
Dalrymple et al. (1992) proposed a definition of an estuary from the point
of view of the fluvial and marine sources of th e sediment. Perillo (1995) offered
another definition based on the dilution of freshwater with seawater and the
presence of euryhaline biological species. An estuary can also be defined as the
zone str.etching from the tidal limit to the seaward edge of the tid<'ll plume in
the open ocean (Kjerfve, 1989).
2 Estuarine Ecohydro\ogy

TI1e definition of an estuary in this book combines all these definitions, i.e.
an estuary is a semi-enclosed body of water connected to the sea as far as the
tiuClllinLit UI tht:: S<1 lt ultru!)iun limit and receiving freshwater runoff, recogruzlng
that the freshwater inflow may not be perennial (i.e. it may occur only for part
of the year) and that the connection to the sea may be closed for part of the year
(~.~. by " ,alld bar) ami llt"l tlt~ tid.1 illflu~llce Ill"y be negligible. The definition
includes fjords, fjards, river mouths, deltas, rias, lagoons, tidal creeks, as well
as the more classical estuaries. lt recognises commonalities with predominantly
brackish areas sLich as the Dahle Sea, dnd fre:shwCllt:r-puur cucl:stCl.I water!) in arkl
zones.
It is also difficult to define where an estuary ends. This is usually assumed to
be an abrupt coastline break. H owever many estudries chall~t: sh<1pe gradually,
thus the transition between river, estuary, coasta l embayment and open coast is
gradual and not always obvious. To accommodate these problems, the European
Environm.ental Agency coined lhe word 'TJ.dflsiliollal Wi.th::nt' <1:S "fJudit::~ uJ Smflu.A:
water il1 the vicil1ity of river //louths which are partly salil1e il1 character as a result of their
proximity to coastal waters but which are substal1tially influel1ced by freshwater flows ".
Some of these 'transitional waters' are not ljver Inoulhs nor have subSloJl lii:llly
lowered salinity, and they are neither rivers nor open coasts. These are considered
as 'estuaries' in this book.

1.2. HUMANITY AND ESTUARIES

Estuaries and continental shelf areas comprise 5.2% of the earth surface, and
only 2% of the oceans' volume. However, they carry a disproportionate human
luad. At f'r~ s~ lIt, abuut 60% uf the wurld'. pupulation lives along the estuaries
and the coast (Lindeboom, 2002). Throughout human history, estuaries have
been amongst the most populated areas over t11e world. This is because people
u~~Ll ll lt:lll Cit; tri:Ul~purt ruutt:!~ , i:uu...I bec.:au::;e uf their high biological productiVity
sustaining a high level of food production; indeed, coastal waters supply about
90% of the global fish catch (Wolanski et aI., 2004a).
The "Ulnall pupU["tiUll wurldwide i. pre.ently duubling every 30--50 years
(Fig. 1.la) and this increase is lmprecedented in hlUnan history (Fig. l.lb). Because
of internal migration of people away from the hinterland towards the coast, the
popu.lalion is flOW doulJlinb t'vt:ry 20 yean; (ilung lJIany coast::;.
The toll for estuaries and coastal waters is severe; more and more they are
unable to sustain the quality of life that people searched for when migrating
Lv lILt: COa~ l ill lhe firt:il place.::. The n:!i:tt:iUlIt:i fur thi::; uegradatiun are many. They
include,

1.2.1. Sedimentation from sediment eroded from cleared land

in the hinterland
Defurestation, overgrazing and other poor farming practices, as well as roads
and mining, increase soil erosion (Fig. 1.2 a-d) and the sediment loads in rivers
 Chapter 1. Introduction 3

(a) (b)
7000 8000

_
'b
.12
1ii
"S
6000

5000
/ 'b
:s
~
6000

"5 4000
'"&. 4000 '"o
ii '"c
E ~ 2000
:f 3000
~
I

2000 +--.,--.,---,--.,---,-~ O+-~---r--~-'--~~

1960 1980 2000 -12000 -8000 -4000 o
YI;J ~ r Ye~ r before 2006
FIGURE 1.1. Growth of the human population.
Source: U.S. Bureau of the Census, International Data Base.

FIGURE 1.2. Photographs of (a) land clearing to the edge of a small estuary draining into the
Great Barrier Reef of Australia, (b) cattle overgrazing the banks of the Ord River estuary,
Australia, (c) massive land slide from the discharge of mining waste in the upper Fly River
estuary, Papua New Guinea, (d) massive mud flow smothering the coastal plains from a land
:)\jde in the Philippines, likely Initiated by deforestation over steep slopes. photos (a) and (d) dre
courtesy of V. Veitch and J. Ramirez.
4 Estuarine Ecohydrology

TABLE 1.1. Comparison of the drainage areas, the sediment load and the yield for va rious rivers.

Ri vt:r Area (10' kmJ) Yield (tonne km-) year-I)

Min.imal land lise

N!!.erdoch (Pa~ tI ) .- . - ._- 39 x 10-6 2
- - - - --
King Sound (Australia) 0.12 50
Moderate laud llse
Ya.n g tze (China) 1.9 252
Amazon (Brazil) 6.1 190
Mississippi (USA) 3_3 120
Mekong 0.79 215
Extensive lrmd use
La Sa FLla (G u am ) 5 ~ 10-6 480
Ganges/Brahmapu tra (India) 1.48 1670
Cimanuk (Indonesia) 0_0036 6350
The effect of deforestation on estuaries is much more rupid in the tropics than in temperate zones because of intense
rainfall in the tropics. The catchments of the Cimanuk and La Sa Fua rivers are small and profoundly modi fied b}'
human nrtivities. nle Ngerdoch River drains a hilly, forested nrcn. The- sediment yield is Inrgdy determined by the
clima te, the topograp hy and human (lctivitie:>, nnd i:> wea kly dependent on the catchme nt ,.iT.e. (Dntn from Wol nn~ki
and Spagna!, 2000; S,Y\>itski el aI., 2005; Victor et aI., 2005).

1;y typically d !i:ll..: lur vf 10 largtdy hHJ~'p ~nu.~lltJ y uf c i;ltchITI~nt size and Inainly
dependent on the degree of land clearing in the mountainous part of the ri ver
catchment (Table 1.1).
As a rt!sult, th~ shurdij\~ can chang~ frum sandy to mudd y, diminishing
the quality of life of the population on its shore (Fig. 1.3). Increased muddiness
and turbidity in the estuary result. This smothers the benthos (Fig. 1.4a) and
Llegnttle:s the e cusys t~lIl by decreasing th~ light available for photosynthesis, This
degradation is further increased by d redging (Fig. lAb) and dwnping of dredged
mud within the estuary (Fig. 1_4c)_
Lanu clearing abo increa,es peak flood flows by up to 30% and decreases dry
season flows, thus exacerbating floodin g in the wet season and droughts in the
dry season (Wolanski and Spagnol, 2000).

1.2.2. Overfishing and trawling

This muddies the water, destroys fish stock and damages or destroys the benthos
and habitats (Fig_ lAd; Trimmer et aI., 2005; Jennings et aI., 2001; Rijnsdorp
et aI., 1998). The decline of coastal fish stocks has been dramatic worldw ide _As
an examp.le, the demersal fisheries biomass in Manila Bay has decreased from
8,290 tons in 1947 to 840 tons in 1993 (Jacin to et aI., 2006). As another example,
the declared catch of the Beluga sturgeon in the Danube River, a fish migrating
upriver from offshore waters, has decreased from 400-600 tons in 1950, 200 tons
in 1974, and 10 tons in 2005 (L Jelev, pers_ com.)
 Chapter 1. Introduction 5

FIGURE 1.3. The coastline of Cairns, Australia, has changed in one century from sandy to muddy
~" ::. rpsult nf l::.nn dp::.ring in thp rivpr,,' r::.trhmpnt An~rtpn frnm Wnl~n<;ki ::.nn f)llkp (JOO?)

1.2.3. Destruction of wetlands

Wetlands are infilled for harbours and marinas (Fig. l.5a), urbanisation including
slums (Fig l.5b), garbage disposal (Fig. l.5c), aquaculture (Fig 15d), end dykes
for farming (Fig. 15e). Nearly all estuarine marshes have already been reclaimed
in Japan and in The Netl1erlands, willi resulting loss of organic material to oxida-
tion <'Ind burning <'IS WE'll ('IS a dE'ct'e<'lsE' of soil p1pv~tionr ~ m~jor C<'lI1$P of f1nociine
Drainage of wetlands can lead to acidification problems that result in vegetation
and fish kills (Fig. l.5f; Soukup and Portnoy, 1986).

1.2.4. Eutrophication
Thi6 is the water qu.ality degra.dation ca used by excessive nutrients; lnuch of it
is derived from sewage (Fig. 1.6a) and anin1al waste from agricultural feedlots
(Fig. 1.6b). Euh'ophicated waters suffer from a significant reduction in dissolved
oxygen leading to hypoxia (dissolved oxygen concentration, DO, -< 2mg rl) and
anoxia (DO = 0; Diaz and Rosenberg, 1995; Richardson and Jorgensen, 1996).
6 Estuarine Ecohydrology

FIGURE 1.4. Photographs of (a) a cora l reef smothered and killed by eroded soil as a result of
land clearing, Airai Bay, Palau, (b) t he sediment plume in the lee of a dredger, Townsv ille,
Australia , (c) di scharging drQdgQd m ud, Singaporg, (d) habit.;.t d"struction and the sedi ment
plume from a trawl net, Great Barrier Reef of Australia . Photo (a) was provided by R.H.
Richmond. Photo (d) is modified from Wolanski (2001).

The benthos and resident fauna die when the DO is less than 1 mg r ' . When
hypoxia occurs, fish, crabs, and shrimp attempt to migrate away. Human-induced
hypoxia is widespread in coastal waters worldwide. In the Gulf of Mexico, the
discharge of the Mississippi River creates a 'dead zone', i.e. a boltom-tagging,
hypoxic water zone (DO :,: 2"'fr l ) of 8,000-9, 000km' in 1985 to 1992, and
increasing to 16,000-20 ,OOO km in 1993-2000 (Rabalais et aI., 2002). Hypoxic
waters covel' 84,000km ' of the Baltic Sea and 40,OOOkm' of the north western
shelf of the Black Sea where historically hypoxia existed but anoxic events became
more frequent and wid espread in the 1970s and 19805. Declines in boltom-water
dissolved oxygen have been reported for the northern Adriatic Sea, the Kattegat
and Skaggerak, Chesapeake Bay, the German Bight and the North Sea, Long
Island Sound in New York, as well as numerous other estuaries worldwide. Addi-
tionally nuisance or harmful algae blooms (HABs) are now common in many
estuaries and coastal seas (Fig. 1.6c; Graneli and Turner, 2006). At times this
results in severe deficits of dissolved oxygen, leading to hypoxia and anoxia and
destr uction of whole ecosystems as exemplified by massive fish kills (Fig. 1.6d).
The human activities degrading the Black Sea ecosystem and the Gulf of
Mexico are not just located on the coast. Instead they occur throughout the
drainage basin of, respectively, the Danube Ri ver that drains eight European
countries, and the Mississippi River that drains much of the United States
(Rabalais et aI., 2002; Richardson and Jorgensen, 1996; Zaitsev, 1992; Lancelot
 Chapter 1. Introduction 7

(c) (d)

FIGURE 1.5. Photographs of' (a) urbanization that destroyed wetlands of the (oamera River
estuary, Gold Coast, Australia, (b) slums that have infHled wetla nds along the Mekong River
estuary, Vietnam, (c) a sarcocornia sa lt marsh near petrochemical industry in Bahia Blanca,
Argentina, that is used for garbage dumping. (d) the wet desert creating by dead and dying
shrimp ponds that have destroyed mangrove forests in Chumpon. Thailand, (e) a dyke that
destroyed 70% of a mangrove swamp in Trinity Island, Cairns, Australia, (f) a fish kill from acid
leac:hat'p frnm t"ir:.in:le p nf;r, wptl;mri npa r Ineh;r,m. Au!;tralia_ Photm. (a), (c) and (f) are courtesy
of N . Duke, R. lara and V. Veitch.

et aI., 2002). A similar degradation from human land-based activities is also

observed in poorly flushed embayments of Japan, including the Seta Inland Sea,
Osaka Bay, and Tokyo Bay, where HABs occur 100 days per year (Okaichi a nd
Yanagi, 1997; Takahashi et aI., 2000; Furukawa and Okada, 2006).
8 Estuarine Ecohydrology

FIGURE 1.6. Photographs of (a) a sewage outfa ll surfacinR in a 'boil' in LaRos lagoon, Nigeria,
(b) a cattle feedlot in Coalinga, California, discharging into creeks the effluent from 120,000
cattle, (c) a harmful algae bloom in Hel Harbour, Poland, as the result of eutrophication,
(d) a massive fill kill in the Neuse River, North Carolina, U.S.A., from the effluent from
agnbusiness piggeries. Photos (b) and (d) arc courtesy ot R. Tuner, photo (cl is courtesy of
M . Zalewski.

1.2.5. Pollution
l'ollutants include heavy metals, PCBs, radionuclides, hydrocarbons, and a num-
ber of chemicals including new synthetic products including endocri ne dis-
rupters associated with sewage inputs. Hydrocarbons are particularly long-lived
in muddy estuaries because they become buried in the mud and are released
slowly back to the water, degrading the wetlands and the estuary for years,
sometimes decades, after an oil spill (Fig. 1.7a-b). The fate of million of tons
of plastic ending in estuaries and the sea is unknown (Thompson et al., 2004).
Large plastic items can at worst cause suffocation and entanglement and at
best 'only' disrupt digestion in birds, fish, and mammals. Many "biodegrad-
able" plastics are composites with materials such as starch that biodegrade and
leave behind nondegradable, microscopic plastic fragments and fibers. These
accumulate in the pelagic zone and sedimentary habitats and are ingested by
marine organisms. The environmental consequences of this contamination are
unknown.
 Chapter I. Introduction 9

(a)

~.
:. . '
:::;~~
. ----
.....".. .
': ~ ri!-.\ ~ .-
~-. ~
~

FIGURE 1.7. Photographs of (al mangroves in Angola. with no sign of life 16 years after an oil
spill, (b) 011 slicks oozing from the mud ill dll uil - kill~u II ldll~lUve ill Pdlldilld , UII~ dliU d !idlf
years after the spill, (c) fully silted Koorawatha weir. Australia, (d) a toxic cyanobacterial bloom
near the drinking water intake in the Su lejow Reservo ir. Poland. Photos are courtesy of K. Burns.
Mr. and Mrs. Chanson. and M. Za lewski .

1.2.6. Dams
Dams for flood control, hydroelectricity and for water diversion for human con-
sumption and agricu lture change the natural flows. In most countries, possibly all
countries of the world, the impact on estuaries is not considered 1n environmental
impact studies when datns are proposed on rivers. Thus the coastal environlnent,
coastal fisheries, and the local coastal people are regarded as expendable. For
instance, the Alqueva dam on the Guadiana River, Portugal, which forms the
largest man-made reservoir in Europe - notwithstanding Europe's envirOlunental
policies - was completed in 2003-2004 without a detailed audit of its impact on
the estuary and the coastal zone, and w ithout any estuary remediation measures
being planned (Wolanski et ai., 2004a). Such is also the case of the Three Gorges
dam on the Yangtze River in China (Syvitski et aI., 2005). Dams not only change
the river flow rate, they also trap sediment that silts the reservoir and reduces irs
operation life. They commonly receive excess input of nitrogen and phosphorus
from human activities, which stimulate noxious cyanobacterial blooms (Fig. 1.7d).
They also starve the estuary and the coast of sand, thereby exacerba ting
coastal erosion.
10 Estuarine Ecohydrology

1.2.7. Dykes for flood protection

These shut off the natural flood plains from the rivers and estuaries. The estuarine
ecosystem is degrad ed by increased floods, both height and discharge, as a result
of the removal of the buffering effect of the flood plains .

1.2.8. Human health risks

The degradaliull uf ~S lu(;ITj es lenu::; tu threa ts tu 11luIl(m lu::alth (Table 1.2).

TABLE 1.2 . Examples of threats to human health arising from the deBradation of estuarine
ecosystems.

Drivin~ force Chan~inR. ecoloRical pattern Influence on human health

Pollution from oil, Deterioration of marine Decrease in life

jndustry, naval ecosystems from expectancy, skin
opt::ratiom:i and iInbalances due to dense and eye diseases
sewage discharge ship traffic (Blackl Azov seas,
Caspian Sea)
Biologicallbacterial Effects on fish and algae Typhoid, malaria,
contamination due diphtheria (Central
tohydrological changes Asia)
Biological contamination Gastroenteritis, eye and
of surface water with skin infections (UK,
waste water France, S. Africa)
Biological and Shellfish poisoning, Poisonings, diarrhea,
chemical contaminati on: wildlife mortalities, dehydra tion,
harmful (toxic and sunlight penetration headaches, confusion,
nontoxic) algal blooms prevention, oxygen dizziness, memory
from the rapid shortages, reservoirs for loss, weakness,
reproduction and bacteria gastroenteritis, bacterial
locali zed dontinance of in.fections,
phytoplankton swimming-related
illnesses, neurologica l
diseases, deaths
(Florida, Gu lf States,
S. America)
Contamination: Coastal shellfish and Cholera (Peru and
cholera-contalnina ted fish contammation other 16 countrIes)
sea plankton due to
con tamina ted 8m ps'
hulls
Modified from ill\TEP (1999).
 Chapter 1. Introduction 11

1.3. THE FUTURE OF ESTUARIES AND THE QUALITY OF LIFE OF

THE HUMAN POPULATION LIVING ON ITS SHORES

The people li ving near estuaries and the coast are experiencing increasing degra-
dation of estuarine water quality and decreasing ecological services delivered
by the estuary. SImultaneously theIr expectatIOns of a high quality of life are
increasingly unrealistic and unfulfilled in view of reduced biodiversity, reduced
productivity, and reduced health of estuaries and coastal waters. Humans are
Increasingly movlllg away from the possibIlity of ecologically-sustainable devel-
opment of the coastal zone.
The human impact on the ecologica l health of estuaries depends on several
factors, one of them is water circu1ation. The water Clrculation in some estuaries
is swift and readily flushes away pollutants to the open ocean; other estuaries
are poorly flushed and the pollutants are retained. Unfortunately many estuarine
envIronments that are especially attractive lor human settlements, such as wet-
lands, lagoons, harbours, and fjords, are often poorly flushed and are thus more
prone to pollution or degradation. If the extra load of nutrients and pollutants
IS sman enough and the estuary IS rapIdly flushed, the biological productIvity IS
boosted without dramatically modifying the biodiversity (Zalewski, 2002). When
the extra load of nutrients and pollutants is high or the estuary is slowly flushed,
the estuary IS degraded 111 terms of water quality, ecologIcal serVIces, and bIO-
diversity. This degradation is not restricted to eshlaries, it can extend to coastal
waters if these are also poorly flushed. Eutrophication and in the worst cases
anoxIa and! or tOXIC algae blooms (red IIdes) can result, e.g. the !:SallIc Sea m
Europe and the Pearl Estuary in China (Gren et ai., 2000).
Better flushed and larger systems also suffer from environmental degradation
through eutrophIcatIon, as IS made apparent by some beaches of the North Sea
being covered by foams of decaying algae and protozoa, mainly Phaeocystis and
Noctiluca (Lindeboom, 2002).
In extreme cases, estuanes have essentIally become Industnal draIns that are
also used for navigation. Such is the case of tbe Pearl Estuary in China and the
Saigon River in Vietnam (Wolanski, 2006a).
ThIS degradatIOn extends 111 coasta l waters to seagrass and cora l reefs. The
percentage of dying reefs is highest in countries with widespread land clearing
(50% in Taiwan and Vietnam, 35% in the Philippines; Bourke et aI., 2002). On
a global scale, reefs are as much threatened by pollutIOn from land runoff as
by coral bleaching due to global warming, overfishing and destructive fishing
(Fabricius, 2005; Spa lding et aI., 2001).
Unlll now, the solutlOn was belJeved to depend on reducmg the amount
of waste and relying on hard technology, namely the construction of sewage
treatment plants and the modification of farming practices and technology. While
this has restored sonle ecological ftmctions in the Rhine and Thanles estuaries,
this technological fix has not restored the ecological health of estuaries in both
developed and developing nations worldwide.
The reasons for failure are simple. Firstly, integrated coasta l zone manage-
ment plans are drawn up but, in the presence of significant river input, they
12 Estuarine Ecohydrology

commonly fail because they dea l only with loca l, coastal issues, and do not con-
sider the whole river catchment as the fundamental planning unit. It is as if
th e land, the river, the estuary, and the sea were not part of the same system.
When dealing with estuaries and coastal waters, in most countries of the world,
p ossibly all countries, land-use man agers, water-resources managers, and coastal
and fisheries managers d o not cooperate in practice due to administrati ve, eco-
nomic and p olitical constraints, and the absence of a forum where their ideas and
approaches are sh ared and discussed . A typical case is the ri ver disposal of waste
from industrial swine and p oultry p roduction in North Carolina that is basically
not treated nor regulated, possibly because it is seen as neither urban nor ru ral
waste, and this waste pollutes whole estuaries (Mallin, 2000).
Secol1dly, estuarine environment degradation is often seen as 'normal' and
nothing to be alarmed a t. Most people d o n ot demand better ecosystem health
and ser vices, p ossibly because in poor countries there are no resources to restore
the estuarine health, and ecological issues and quality of life come second to
economic development. In wealthy countries people have not seen their estuaries
in a pristine, healthy state and many believe tha t wha t they see is norma l.
Th irdly, and most commonl y, solutions are simply not applied because of
socio-economic constraints but as well because of the inadequacy of national
policies, planning and m anagement structures.
Fil1ally, there is still no cost-effective technology and political will to treat efflu-
ent from diffuse sources in rural activities, except possibly by using wetlands as
filters, a practice that is effecti ve but rarely used (Moore et aI., 2000, 2001 and 2002).

1.4. THE SOLUTION

The problem remains w1fesolved as to how, using only limited financial resources,
to preserve, restore and manage critical habita ts, and reduce the load of nutrients,
sediments and pollutants in the face of increasing human population and its
aspirations.
The solution is to adopt ecohydrology as the prinCiple to guide the manage-
ment of the entire river basin from the headwaters down to the coastal zone
(Wolanski et aI., 2004a). Ecohydrology is not wishful thinking of recreating pris-
tine estuaries in spite of huge human populations living on their shores. It is
instead about manipulating es tuaries using a combination of physical and bio-
logical interventions to increase the system robustness and its ability to cope
with human stresses, while regulating human activities on land when necessary.
Ecohydrology must be used in parallel to socio-economic imperati ves to preven t
managers to hide behind 'manufactured uncertainty' leading to a do-nothing
philosophy that h as p revailed for hundreds of years and has led worldwide to
estuarine and coastal water degradation.
Ecohydrology is more than integrated ri ver basin management. It provides
for low-cost teclu10logy for mitigating the impact on the coastal zone of human
activities throughout the ri ver basin, using or enilancing the natura l capacity of
the water bodies to absorb or process the excess nutrients and pollutants from
 Chapter 1. Introduction 13

(a) (b)
~ ... ... -.- . '- ' ...
,

.~./ ~.

,.,.
.... biota eS luarlM ,
/ (hin inoy) wllilunds - , ' _

....
.......... '
/
f ~
: i';'
I If"
.. , .... rivElrin e :

\,
,
, ecosystem
health
,,
•
I
,',,,

~
l'
wcllands :
, . \
\
: ~_ catchment
: ,',' lloundllry
",
~ .... '. ./
" ' .'- ' . ' . _ .p '"
...... ..~ '
........ _---------
FIGURE 1.S. (a) Th e ecohydrology concept recognizes that the ecosystem hea lth is driven by
li nks between the biology an d the phYSICS, that human activities In the ent1re ri ver catchment
need to be considered , and that the best cou rse of action is to manipul at e t he system to
reinforce its ability to cope with human stresses. (b) Th e ecosystem does not st op at the tidal
limit. It comprises the w ho le river cCltc hm ent including thlil riVGr Clnd it, riverinQ wQtlands, the
estuarine wetlands, and the seagrass and coral reefs in coasta l wate rs. The concept applies also
to temperate estua ri es where there are no coral reefs but there may be limesto ne reefs.

human activities. Ecohydrology views the whole river basin as an ecosystem from
upland waters to the seas (Fig. 1.8).
The existing i;uJrniIlistrative / urgartiZi:l.t1Ulli:l.luli:l.lli:l.g.elltelll fl'i:l.lItework fUl' es tu-
aries is excessively complex and cumbersome to use in practice. For instance there
are at least 54 legal guidelines, acts, laws, and treaties regulating the management
uf Sl.:utt.i::;lt e~t u d ries (Mt:L usky d lU.l Ellioll, 2004), This crei:lles duplica lion, frag-
mentation, and confusion in environmental control. Without the unifying theme
of ecohydrology, there is no comm onality between the various users/needs and
tILl:' llIi:l.lly i:l.~e llcie~ dllU llli:l.lldbelllenl LUllunilLt::es [01 huntan activities in es tuaries
and in the river catchment.
Environmental degradation can only be remedied by restoring some of the
working of the ecosys lelll, helpifl.g lhe partia lly res lored systenl inlprove itself
naturally, and improving the robustness of the ecosystem and its ability to
absorb human stresses. Some of the aquatic ecosystem functions can be restored
by a c0111binaliol1 o f eng ineering, h ydrology, eco1ogy and phytotechnology (Le.
using plants) solutions to improve the robustness of the estuarine ecosystem.
The robustness of the estuary is controlled both by a number of parameters,
including the residence Linle, lhe es tuarine food webs within the wl'tter coiuInn,
and the buffer effect and the habitats p rovided by the fringing wetlands (prin-
cipally mudflats, saltmarshes and mangroves). In the estuary it is generally not
possible to use only engineering solutions to solve environmental degradation
problems, though in some cases it is possible to diminish the residence time by
dredging, opening new river mouths, and, for dammed rivers, creating artificial
river floods to res tore SOlne key natural processes (e.g. seditnent fluGhing; sca
fish recruitment). Restoring robu st estuaries may be possible by enhancing the
14 Estuarine Ecohydrology

biotic integrity. Restoring intertidal wetlands, seagrass and coral reefs is one
such key option. For non-robust estuaries the health of the estuary can only be
restored by adopting a basin-wide ecohydroJogy solution. This solution requires
(1) regulating basin-wide hwnan activities that impact on the river, and (2)
manipulating the river ecosystem to decrease its impact on the estuary (Wolanski
et aI., 2U04a). The only option available to restore environmental health 01 the
coastal zone (e.g. in the case of toxic algae blooms and dead zones from hypoxia
and anoxia) is to adopt a basin-wide ecohydrology solution.

1.5. ECOHYDROLOGY SCIENCE: THE STRUCTURE OF THIS BOOK

It is only after acquiring a sound understandi.ng of an estuary as an ecosystem

that the scientist can confidently propose ecohydrology soluti ons for managing an

iii;
river
~ mudflat
IiiTM (.U:IU:uy
turbility ma)(lmum

tide limit

::> H (human health)

Estuary

coast

coas tal wa tors

FIGURE 1.9. Sketch ot the dominant pathways of water, fine sediment, nutrients, and plankton
in an estuary, together with the impact on human health. Modified from Wolanski et at. {2004a}.
 Chapter 1. Introduction 15

estuary in an ecologically sustainable manner. By this process, and probably only

by this process, humanity ca n get away from looking for purely technological
solutions. These have failed througho ut human history to maintain e.shlarme
ecosystems and the ecological services that th ey provided to humanity.
This book provides the public, engineers, scientists and resources managers,
the eeohydrology viewpoint o f an estuary as an ecosysteln. This is done by
focusing on its principal components that are the river, the estuarine waters, the
sediment, the nutrients, the wetlands and the aquatic food web. The dominant
pathways are shown in Fig. 1.9 and w ill be described in chapter s 2 (estuar-
ine water circulation), 3 (estuarine sediment dynamics), 4 (estuarine wetlands),
5 (estuarine food webs), 6 (estuarine ecohydrology modeling), and 7 (ecohydrol-
ogy soluti ons), The aim of each chnptcr is to provide clear, specialist knowledge
to enable an interaction between aquatic, marine, and wetlands biologists, geolo-
gists, geomorphologists, chemists, modelers, and ecologists. This book recognizes
that the feedbacks between physical rmd biological processes control the health
of the estuarine ecosystem. Therefore each chapter has been written to focus
on the dominan t processes relevant to the internal workings of the estuarine
ecosys tem . This book views an estuary (Fig. 1.10) from the pOll,t of v ie w of an
ecosystem influenced by both human (land use and water management) and nat-
ural (hydrology, meteorology) factors in the river catchment, and by an oceanic
influence driven both by the phys ics and the biology.
This book provides a holistic understanding of an estuary as an ecosystem.
It demonstrates how, based on an understanding of the processes controlling the
es tuarine ecm:;yo ten1 health, one can quantify, or at leCtot quali fy, thc robu:Jtness
of an estuary - i.e. its ability to cope with human stresses - and how to improve
this robustness. Robustness varies from estuary to estuary. This is the knowledge
nee ded to be able to design a Inanagement plan for ecologically s ustainable
development of an estuary, including remediation measures if the estuary is
already degraded.

river catchment
-natural: hydrology & meteorology
-human: land-uco, wator manage mont

D
estuarine and coastal water ecohydrology

oceanic influence (physics & biology)

FIGURE 1.10. The estuary and coasta l waters as an ecosystem influenced by both natural and
human processes In the river catchment, and by an ocea nic Influence compriSIng both physi cs
and bio logy.