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The beach is irresistible to me. As I wander the shore, the blue water sparkles, gulls chatter and glide above me, the wind pulls at my hair and rocks and shells create a mosaic beneath my feet. If I look only at the surfaces of our bays and sounds, everything appears to be OK. But just beneath the waves, most of our beloved estuaries are in trouble. Surrounded by dense urban areas, they are under an array of pressures. Small individual actions and more sustainable lifestyles are the prescription for saving these gems.

What are Estuaries and Why Protect Them?

An estuary (also known as a sound, bay, inlet or harbor) is a semi-protected body of water in which salt water and fresh water mix. This condition creates an unusual abundance of habitats that are nurseries for prolific estuarine life. Estuaries are one of the few places where young fish, and the marine life they depend on, flourish. Nearly half of the U.S. population lives near one — for example, Seattle's Puget Sound and Maryland's Chesapeake Bay. The larger the city, the more intense the pollutant load, the heavier the water use and the more unrelenting the land-development pressure there is on the estuary.

Historically, cities tended to form near these bodies of water because of their abundance of food and their shelter for ships. Estuaries protect the uplands and filter pollutants. They also support fisheries and offer recreational and aesthetic benefits. The U.S. EPA states:

• Estuaries provide habitat for more than 75 percent of America's commercial fish catch and 80 - 90 percent of the recreational fish catch.
• Nationwide, commercial and recreational fishing, boating, tourism and other coastal industries create more than 28 million jobs.
• There are 44,000 square miles of outdoor public recreation areas along the coasts. Nearly 70 percent of the U.S. population visits these for about 10 days annually, generating $8 to $12 billion each year.

Estuarine Health

What ails our estuaries? Estuary cleanups initially focused on obvious problems such as large industrial-plant discharges. As these major sources of pollutants were cleaned up, it became clear that there were other sources still causing widespread harm. The main culprits are excessive nutrients and pathogens that come from problematic septic systems and from storm water that contains too much lawn fertilizer, pet waste and other pollutants. This overload of nutrients (nitrogen and phosphorus) degrades the estuary by causing excess algae to grow. When algae die, the decay process uses up oxygen, leaving too little of it for fish and shellfish to survive. Overabundant algae also kill marine plants like eelgrass, which are important to young fish and shellfish. Other difficulties facing estuaries include toxic chemicals, loss of habitat, loss of fish and wildlife, an increase of invasive species and a decrease in the amount of fresh water flowing into them.

The National Estuary Program (NEP) tracks the rehabilitation of 28 major estuaries in the U.S. Among them is Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the lower 48. The Chesapeake is often cited as a success story because of the recovery of the striped bass and rockfish populations. Although cleanup efforts began 19 years ago, this bay is at a crossroads. Oyster beds haven't recovered, the eelgrass beds are dead and the water quality is poor. Lack of funding and enforcement of water-quality protection measures are at fault. The region is $14 billion short of the funds needed to improve waste handling at 80,000 farms, to reduce excess lawn fertilizers in yards and to control inadequately treated human waste from hundreds of outdated sewage plants and a million septic systems. The rehabilitation story of the Chesapeake is echoed around the country: some successes, some failures and a long costly road to recovery.

The Puget Sound Cleanup

Puget Sound stretches along the Pacific Northwest coast from the Canadian border south to Olympia, Washington. Among the largest estuaries in the U.S, the Sound has been negatively affected by the tremendous influx of people to the region. More people equals more pollutants, fewer natural areas, more pavement (43 additional square miles of it between 1991 and 2001) and less forest (190 square miles lost between 1991 and 2001). Fewer forests and more pavement means less ground to soak up rainwater, more rainwater going to storm drains, less tree canopy to cool streams, less wetland to soak up rainwater and more stream degradation. In addition, climate change is already affecting the Sound. As water temperatures rise, water that is too warm kills salmon during summer migration.

What is at stake? Many iconic symbols of the Pacific Northwest are at risk. Orcas were added to the federal endangered species list in 2005, and seven stocks of salmon have become extinct since 1992; healthy salmon stocks have dropped to 10 percent of their historic levels. Many fish, seals and orcas (one of the most contaminated marine mammals in the world) have high levels of toxic compounds such as PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls), metals and PDBEs (polybrominated diphenyl ethers, or flame retardants). Shellfish beds harvested for decades are either closed because of too much pollution or are dead zones. Marine bird populations have decreased precipitously — some by as much as 95 percent since the late 1970s.

Saving the Sound: Fortunately, Washington's Governor Gregoire started a partnership of 21 leaders from private, public and environmental groups in 2005. She challenged them to develop recommendations for saving the Sound by 2020. The partnership has now identified eight priorities such as protecting habitat, speeding cleanup of toxic pollutants and controlling human and animal wastes. Part of the plan includes educating people about the dangers to estuaries and involving them in the recovery efforts.

Individuals Make a Difference

Because there are so many causes of estuarine degradation, public education is important. In order to turn the tide and resuscitate our estuaries, grassroots organizations and individual homeowners must become involved. The initiative of uniquely dedicated individuals has spearheaded cleanup efforts in many estuaries.

Puget Sound: A few years ago, I read a profile in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that continues to motivate me today. It was about a man named John Beal, who single-handedly initiated cleanup of Hamm Creek, an important tributary of the Duwamish River, which drains into the Puget Sound. When his doctor told him he had only six months to live, he began working to recover the creek. He lived for 26 more years, all the while dedicating himself to the project. John began by removing 12 tons of junk, such as large appliances and car parts, from the creek. With the help of various agencies and thousands of volunteers, he brought salmon and native plants back to most of the stream.

Pleasant Bay: My parents, who live near Pleasant Bay in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, also inspire me. Pleasant Bay looks great on the surface, but many changes have occurred in the bay since I was a kid. For example, the once-healthy eelgrass beds have died. My parents, both chemists who care about the bay, were determined to figure out what was happening. To investigate, they put together test kits, took water samples and set up a lab. They collaborated with others to study what had been done in larger bays like the Chesapeake and nearby Buzzard's Bay. Twenty-one years later, this water-quality-sampling program includes many volunteers and agencies from all the towns around the bay. The excess nitrogen in the bay was traced to septic systems and storm water. Each town is tackling these difficulties by using innovative methods to retrofit storm drains. The towns are also educating their residents about proper septic-system use and enforcing inspection, maintenance or replacement with alternative single- or neighborhood-collection systems.

What You Can Do

In your home: If your home is on a septic system, regularly inspect and pump your septic tank (every 1- 3 years). Better yet, look for alternatives or improvements to your septic system.* Always throw solids such as dental floss, sanitary products, medicines and pet waste in the trash. Dispose of household chemicals, including paints, solvents, oils or pesticides, as hazardous waste. Use eco-friendly personal-care and household-cleaning (low or no phosphates) products and try to use less water. It's also beneficial to buy organically grown food, which will lessen the amount of nitrogen, phosphorous and pesticides that enter the waterways from farmlands. Purchase sustainably harvested seafoods in order to protect fisheries.

Yard and garden: Reduce your lawn (see "Smaller Lawns," Issue #1). Use eco-friendly alternatives to pesticides and fertilizers; mulch; and plant native/drought-tolerant plants to limit pesticide, fertilizer and water use. Reduce irrigation to lessen storm water overflows and reduce the overload on sewage-treatment plants or drainfields. Clean up outdoor pet waste and dispose of it in the trash.

Decrease paved surfaces: Leave your yard in as natural a state as possible; i.e., maximize the areas with plants, shrubs and groundcover. Use open pavers, gravel, cobbles, stones, bricks or other permeable materials instead of concrete, asphalt or landscaping plastic. (See "Rethinking Water," issue #10.) Direct downspouts into your yard instead of into storm drains.

Driveways and walkways: Recycle used motor oil and antifreeze. Regularly tune your car and fix oil leaks. Properly dispose of paint, cleaners, soaps, waxes and other chemicals to prevent them from going down the storm drain. It's best to wash cars at a car wash that recycles the water, or to at least let the water drain onto grass to filter the wash water. Only sweep driveways and walkways with brooms — using water creates more storm-drain pollution.

You can also join one of many neighborhood projects that maintain vegetation on shorelines and monitor, clean up or restore streams or beaches. If you aren't able to get your hands in the mud, contribute to local groups that are saving estuaries. Also, call your representatives and urge them to support legislation that addresses storm water and septic-system problems, protects estuaries, funds estuary restoration, expands marine sanctuaries and protects fisheries. I've made changes at home and enthusiastically volunteer on beach-cleaning and stream-restoration projects near my home. My hope is that my daughter will still be able to swim in and enjoy Puget Sound and Pleasant Bay, the way I have throughout my life.

*Note: Look for an article on alternatives or improvements to your septic system in the next issue.

Marian Wineman lives with her husband and seven-year-old daughter a few blocks east of Puget Sound and enjoys paddling on Pleasant Bay during the summer.

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