Coastline Pollution

In San Clemente California, a local and global coastal icon was endangering from human expansion. The targeted beach was known as Trestles. A world class wave for surfers and a large carrier to marine life in South Orange County shorelines. This great beach paradise was in jeopardy of yet another human development. The project was to build a toll road that extended out into the ocean through Trestles and take course back inland. Construction of this mini freeway would not only destroy the waves to local surfers, but create a danger to all those linked to the coast from the most common marine killer, pollution. Pollution in the ocean comes in many different forms. From sewage to human waste, the ocean is polluted by civilizations that seem to not be checked in any way from government. Battling development with coastline environment is not only taking place in California, but across the globe. “In fact over 80% of all marine pollution comes from land-based activities and many pollutants are deposited in estuaries and coastal waters.” (Environmental facts1). In the world, 38% of the population lives 100 km from the shoreline (Small and Cohen 2). With such a large population located near the beach, pollution should from development should be limited and even put to a stop in certain coasts across the globe. By limiting shoreline development, coastlines across the globe will be cleaner and more sanitary for marine and human life.

Unfortunately, pollution in the ocean is not limited to just a few resources. In fact, humans have been polluting the ocean in almost every way. Most common types of pollution are from polluted runoffs. These are storm water or preemptive due to rain (Stoner 4). Another strong from of pollution is the ecological damage from nutrient pollution. “ Nutrient over-enrichment has a range of effects on coastal systems, but in general, it brings on ecological changes that decrease the biological diversity-the variety of living organisms- in the ecosystem” (Howarth 2). Adding to the nutrient crisis and bacteria issues from runoffs, sewage is a large factor is bringing toxic waste into the marine ecosystems. Many ask how such massive amounts of deadly toxins can and health risk bacteria are lead into the oceans coasts? The problem lies within the government itself. “One of the reasons that the water pollution problem is so severe is that it is not actually illegal to dump pollutants into water bodies” (Sea Pollution 3). The largest issue concerning pollution is it can’t be stopped with no limit upon it. Without any interference from the government, individuals and companies from coastline developments can pollute as they please threatening not only marine ecosystems, but human health as a whole on the globe.