BACKGROUND PAPER:
LAND-BASED SOURCES (LBS)
OF POLLUTION
AS THE DOMINANT MARINE POLLUTION PROBLEM
IN THE WIDER CARIBBEAN REGION
prepared by
John Diamante, Marilyn Varela, Bryan Wood-Thomas
and Pedro Gelabert1
APRIL 1991
U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
OFFICE OF INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES
'EPA Region II. Curibbetn Field Office
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary
1.0 Land-Based Sources of Marine Pollution (LBS) in tbe Wider
Caribbean
2.0 Point and Non-Point LBS
3.0 LBS Effects in the Wider Caribbean
4.0 The Physical Basis for LBS as a Wider Caribbean Regional
Problem
5.0 Technical Studies and Reports
6.0 Technical Data
7.0 Approaches for Addressing the Problem
8.0 Technical References
APPENDIX
II
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Land-based Sources of Marine Pollution (IBS) of concern in the Wider
Caribbean involve both the point and non-point source categories, and include:
o Agricultural Sources,
o Industrial Sources,
o Sewage Sources,
o Solid Waste Sources.
The lack of adequate marine water quality survey and monitoring data in the
region delayed the recognition for some time of the magnitude of the total
contribution to regional marine pollution problems from LBS of all types. The
growing accumulation of site-by-site surveys on a country-by-country basis of
identifiable LBS sources and the observable relationship of these sources to
nearby marine environmental damage and wider regional implications has caused a
general consensus to emerge among experts that as much as 90% or more of the
region's marine pollution problems are attributable to LBS of all kinds.
LBS threaten the capacity of the near-coastal ocean waters to support life
and to recycle or neutralize natural and anthropogenic products and emissions.
For the coastal and island environments, nutrient over-enrichment, toxic
substances and pesticides contamination contribute to habitat degradation, water
supply contamination and public health problems. The coral reefs, seagrass and
mangrove systems are especially suffering from LBS effects. The depletion of
oxygen caused by increased biological oxygen demand (BOD) of waste disposal
has caused mass mortalities of fauna due to asphyxiation. Suspended sediment
has reduced light penetration, causing major shifts in biotic communities, as well
as degradation of corals.
Pesticides that have bio-accumulated and untreated sewage pathogens
affect marine biota and can be transmitted through fishery resources to humans.
Many types of LBS also pose serious health and ecological hazards through
contamination of fresh water supplies used for drinking, washing and agriculture,
and through early entry into the food chain via crops, dairy products, poultry and
meat products, even before entering the marine environment.
While most of the LBS environmental effects of greatest concern involve
impacts on the near coastal waters and lands, the entry of pollutants into the
large scale regional ocean circulation system is what makes the overall problem
inherently a regional one, and the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico a common
"regional sea" for marine environmental matters. The major flow patterns of the
ocean currents in the region are from southeast to northwest, carrying marine
pollution along the northeastern coast of South America, the east coast of Central
America and the Caribbean Islands, and then into the Gulf of Mexico and around
Florida to the Atlantic coast of the U.S. The dominant regional meteorological
patterns contribute additional physical linkages to the integrated regional character
of the problem.
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Important technical studies and reports that have contributed to the present
state of understanding concerning the IBS problem in the Wider Caribbean
include:
o A 1984 UNEP Eastern Caribbean Community (CARICOM) study,
o A 1984 Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) inventory of
pollutants and their sources, by individual country in the Wider
Caribbean,
o A two volume study prepared for PAHO in 1988 of sewage problems
in the Eastern Caribbean,
o The U.S. National Report on environmental priorities in the Caribbean
prepared by EPA and NOAA in 1989,
o An EPA funded study on IBS problems in 34 Caribbean countries
prepared in 1989,
o A Regional Seas Program environmental assessment document for
the Wider Caribbean prepared by UNEP and Greenpeace in 1990,
o A U.S. Dept. of State, Man and the Biosphere Program (MAB), report
on an August 1989 conference on IBS in the Wider Caribbean
sponsored by MAB,
o A major survey of the state of knowledge on the regional
oceanography of the region by G. Wust in 1964,
o An analysis of the pollution and living resources implications of the
regional oceanography by D. K. Atwood in 1977.
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Land-Based Sources of Pollution
As the Dominant Marine Pollution Problem in the Wider Caribbean
1.0 Land-Based Sources of Marine Pollution (IBS) in the Wider Caribbean
Land-based sources of marine pollution (LBS) are defined as
the disposal or release of polluting substances from land-based
activities into coastal and marine waters. Discharges from a
wide range of activities contribute to pollution of the near-
coastal environment and also enter the main oceanic circulation
systems, contributing to adverse environmental effects across
broad areas impacted by those circulation systems. Run-off from
agricultural lands and urban areas contribute significant
quantities of nutrients, pesticides, and other harmful
substances. These more diffuse sources are accompanied by the
more obvious industrial outfalls that discharge directly into the
coastal ocean waters, estuaries and inland rivers that ultimately
transport sediment and contaminants to estuarine and coastal
waters.
Also included is the direct and indirect deposition of
airborne pollutants in the marine environment. The overwhelming
proportion of airborne sources are land-based. Indirect
deposition involves transport of airborne pollutants into the
marine environment through deposition first onto the land and
eventually transport to the marine environment via run-off, river
systems and ground waters.
Generally excluded from this definition are pollutants
resulting from deep sea disposal, maritime transportation and
sea-bed activities. While petroleum spills at sea are not
included, petroleum spills from land storage facilities, coastal
oil rigs on land, pipelines and other land transportation systems
are all categorized as LBS, whenever the pollution from these
sources is apt to reach the marine environment by any of the
pathways already enumerated.
Within the scope of this definition, there are four major
categories of LBS (Betz, 1990):
o Agricultural Sources; including fertilizers and
pesticides which mainly enter the environment through
run-off of rain and irrigation water, improper
cultivation practices causing soil erosion into
streams, estuaries and coastal waters,
o Industrial Sources; both organic and inorganic
pollutants (pretreated or otherwise) including toxic
chemicals produced in conjunction with industrial
processes and mining activities which are directly
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discharged into streams, estuaries and coastal waters,
meteorologically eroded into the same avenues or
leached out of buried disposal sites through the medium
of the ground waters; petroleum spills on land are also
included in this category,
o Sewage Sources; these include both treated and
untreated human and animal organic waste emanating from
privy pits, septic tanks, packaged treatment plants,
sewage system outfalls and disposal ponds transported
through marine outfall pipes or leached into aquifers,
and then to the marine environment,
o Solid Waste Sources; cover a wide variety of hazardous
and non-hazardous detritus and discarded material
produced by construction, transportation and packaging,
communications and other activities of civilized
societies that become general litter, are disposed of
in landfills and other sites , or partially
incinerated, and that produce pollution through a
complex chain of degradation and decomposition
processes entering all of the water transport media
described above.
Based on the limited data that has been available, marine
pollution experts have made a number of estimates of the relative
contributions from the major known source categories to
pollutants of all kinds in the global marine environment due to
human activities-(GESAMP, 1990; Johnson, 1976; Goldberg, 1982;
MPS, 1991). These estimates of the global averages, and
corresponding regional estimates, generally indicate that the
overall LBS contribution is 80 +/- 10 %, i.e., the range is from
70 to 90 percent. Of the 80%, it is estimated that for the
global average situation, 40% (of the 80%) comes from direct
deposition into the oceans of airborne pollutants originating
from LBS. Therefore, the global estimate is that about one third
of all the pollution in the marine environment originates from
airborne pollutants originating on land (LBS1 and another 47% or
so derives from all other LBS entering the marine environment by
other routes.
At the time that the Cartagena Convention (The Convention
for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment in
the Wider Caribbean Region) and associated protocol (A Protocol
Concerning Co-operation in Combatting Oil Spills in the Wider
Caribbean Region) were negotiated, concerns focused on oil spills
(no distinction between pure marine sources and LBS oil spills
was made within the protocol), pollution from ships, and ocean
dumping. These vessel related sources of marine pollution
*ln torn* irwuncM in the Caribbean, th*«« wattt* fill w«tl*nd« or ar« deposited directly Into the •••.
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gradually were recognized to represent a comparatively minor part
of the problem. While serious marine pollution problems had been
recognized as existing in the Wider Caribbean for some time, the
lack of extensive blue water surveys and water quality monitoring
networks made it difficult to assign the problem to specific
source categories on any quantifiable basis.
Now, LBS are believed to be the major contributors of marine
pollution in the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico environment
(scientific experts generally agree that perhaps upwards of 90
percent or more of marine pollution in the Wider-Caribbean Region
is accounted for by LBS (MAB, 1990) ). However, it has also been
recognized that addressing the spectrum of land-based sources is
the most costly and complicated pollution problem to negotiate
technically and politically, and to actually implement remedial
actions for, once general agreements have been negotiated.
It is recognized that there is now an urgency in confronting
the LBS problem and a need to establish a basis for solution
(ACOPS, 1988). The emerging recognition of the magnitude of the
LBS problem has largely resulted from an accumulation of site-
by-site surveys conducted on a country-by-country basis across
the Wider Caribbean. These surveys identified relevant sources
and were often able to tie these sources to identifiable damage
to the nearby marine environment, as well as indications relating
effects in the wider region. Specific studies are cited in
Section 5.0 below.
Pollution ^f-arom ships and dumping of wastes at sea are now
subject to international controls under the London Dumping
Convention and other agreements. However, land-based sources of
pollution, in particular fertilizer/pesticide runoff, industrial
and transportation sector wastes, and airborne deposition, are
the most serious threat to the health of the oceans and are not
subject to international regulation.
2.0 Point and Non-Point LBS
Many of the land-based sources of pollution degrading the
environment are easily recognizable, particularly the direct
point sources that discharge directly to coastal waters, such as
sewage effluent, industrial discharges and municipal stormwater
outfalls. In the U.S. coastal waters within the Gulf of Mexico,
68 percent of the total volume of industrial waste water
discharged into the region from point sources is from chemical
and allied product manufacturing facilities; while all of this
MAB (1990) atatee that "Scientist* believe that over 85% of the marina pollution In the Wider Caribbean
Region la tha raault of land-baaed epurcee." However, aome major survey raaulta that have become available elnce Augutt
1989 have cauaed expert! to unofficially voice even higher eatimatea at eubeequent meetinge and workehope.
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discharged waste water is treated, it often contains high levels
of heavy metals and other potentially toxic contaminants (MAB,
1990) . There is also a major problem in the Caribbean region
with sewage effluent. Most countries in the Caribbean Region
dispose of sewage directly or indirectly into coastal waters with
little or no treatment (Archer; 1984, 1988).
Airborne deposition originating from LBS are also known to
be a problem in the Wider Caribbean* Any major point source of
airborne pollutants on a relatively small island is likely to
deposit a substantial portion of its burden directly into the
marine environment in short order.
In some islands, non-point sources pose a greater problem
than point sources. Non-point sources of pollution are less
easily identifiable, but their effects are equally as abusive.
Over-sedimentation, nutrient over-enrichment, and toxic
contamination of the marine environment, most often transported
via storm runoff, are major threats to the integrity of the
marine ecosystem.
Topsoil containing pesticides and fertilizers erode with no
set pattern into the coastal waters, while poorly engineered and
located solid waste disposal sites leach additional toxic burden
threatening sea grasses, coral reefs, fisheries, and at the end
of the food chain, local populations (MAB, 1990). In some
instances, disposal is taking place direct to the sea, or
resulting in de facto filling of wetland areas. Massive erosion
is causing siltation and turbidity in both inland and coastal
waters, depleting fresh water and damaging mangrove forests,
savannahs and other fragile coastal environments. This results
not only from erosion of farmlands and beaches, but from the
progressive destruction of tropical forests in much of the region
(Davidson, 1990)
3.0 The Physical Basis for LBS (and Other Marine Pollution) as a Wider
Caribbean Regional Problem
Anyone whose only experience of the Caribbean is skin-
diving as a tourist in the crystal clear waters off the Cayman
Islands and similar sites would find it hard to believe that
there is any LBS problem in the Caribbean, or any other marine
pollution problem in the region, unless they were to compare the
quality of coral reef systems over the time-span of a decade.
Similarly, it is not likely to be obvious to non-
oceanographers/meteorologists that marine pollution originating
in the north eastern coastal areas of South America might have
significant impacts on the marine pollution levels of the Gulf of
Mexico. The truth of the matter is that the Caribbean island
areas do have significant marine pollution problems, only some of
which are of their own making, and pollution sources as far away
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as South America are significantly impacting the coasts of
Florida and the entire Gulf of Mexico.
The key to understanding this is the nature of the
prevailing meteorological patterns, and more importantly, the
nature of the ocean circulation in the region, both of which
intimately link the countries of the Wider Caribbean in matters
regarding the marine environment. The major flow of surface
water (and marine pollutants) is from the southeast to the
northwest. The surface flow patterns are dominated by the major
surface current systems, which move large volumes of water very
quickly through the region. The ocean "boundary currents"
flowing from the mid-Atlantic, enter the southeast portion of the
Wider Caribbean through the lesser Antilles and past the north
coast of South America, flowing through the major basin of the
Caribbean (Wust, 1964). The 1991 oil spill in international
waters near St. Kitts illustrated the dominant northwestern flow
pattern, as most of the islands to the west of St. Kitts as far
as Puerto Rico were affected.
The flow then splits into two main streams. One stream
flows into the Gulf of Mexico, and provides the so-called eddy or
loop current during those seasons when flow remains as an intact
boundary current. Seasonal loop currents also form in the Gulf of
Panama, bringing strong flow along the coast of Central America.
The second main stream of the boundary current system forms the
Gulf Stream, which dominates the coastal flow along the U.S.
eastern coast.
Strong, adverse wind patterns, such as the major hurricane
systems, dominate the region on a seasonal basis. These wind
systems can carry large volumes of airborne contaminants across
several national boundaries in a matter of hours, while strong
marine currents can carry large volumes of marine pollutants
through the region in a matter of days (MAB, 1990). Another
characteristic of the deep ocean areas of the Wider Caribbean is
the lack of renewal or flushing (Atwood, 1977). Large masses of
deep ocean water tend to concentrate pollutants for long periods
of time, causing damage to resident ecosystems. These
concentrated pollutants also pose the threat of eventually
reaching the surface in large amounts during storm seasons, for
example (Archer, 1988a,£). Another example of the role played by
large scale wind fields is offered by the Trade Winds which carry
dust from the Sahara Desert as far as the Caribbean in sufficient
quantities to affect the background levels of particulates once
or twice a year.
4.0 IBS Effects in the Wider Caribbean
LBS threaten the capacity of the oceans to support life and
to recycle or neutralize natural and anthropogenic products and
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emissions. For example, the oceans are believed to have absorbed
up to one half of the total carbon dioxide emissions of about 200
years of the industrial revolution.
For the coastal and island environments, nutrient over-
enrichment, toxic substances and pesticides contamination
contribute to habitat degradation, water supply contamination and
public health problems. The coral reef, seagrass and mangrove
systems are especially vulnerable to LBS pollution. Coral reefs
exist in delicately balanced physical/chemical systems. The
depletion of oxygen caused by increased biological oxygen demand
(BOD), associated with selected categories of LBS, has caused
mass mortalities due to asphyxiation of fauna. Moreover,
suspended sediment reduces light penetration, in turn causing
major shifts in biotic communities or the degradation of coral
communities.
Pesticides, used properly, have benefits in the non-marine
environment. However, pesticides that have bio-accumulated and
untreated sewage containing pathogens may both affect marine
biota or be transmitted through fishery resources to humans.
Many types of LBS (e.g., pesticides and toxic waste) also pose
serious human health and ecological hazards. The problem is
engendered even before entry into the marine environment, through
contamination of fresh water supplies used for drinking, washing
and agriculture and through early entry into the land-based
component of the food chain via crops, dairy products and meat
products.
In a technical paper delivered at a regional coastal zone
management workshop, Chow (1985) reports that sewage and other
pollutants are causing stress on the fringing reefs around
Barbados and that heavy algal growth on coral reefs and dense
solid waste litter on the nearby ocean floor are appearing in
areas of the ocean exposed to similar conditions around Jamaica.
Oceanographic experts have expressed concerns that this outflow
of untreated sewage from land-areas into the marine environment,
then cascading down into the deeper waters surrounding island
nations in the Caribbean is causing oxygen depleted waters to
develop at various depths. A serious concern is that these
deeper oxygen depleted oceanic layers (which can involve
substantial masses of water) have the potential of re-emerging at
the surface from storm effects, upwellings and changing seasonal
meteorology, with resulting environmental impacts on tourism,
public health, fisheries and beaches (Archer, 1988a; Davidson,
1990).
These problems would be compounded by any general rise in
global sea levels resulting from global warming due the
greenhouse effect. Contaminated waters would intrude further
inland, threaten aquifers and add stress on mangroves, corals,
beaches, compound storm effects and accelerate erosion.
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5.0 Technical Studies and Reports
The literature that exists on the general subject of LBS
problems in the Wider Caribbean for the most part is not to be
found in formal scientific journals or other readily available
sources. Rather, it is mostly contained in special governmental,
multilateral and non-governmental publications of organizations
such as UNEP, AID, CARICOM, PAHO, MAB, EPA and Greenpeace. These
publications record the results of surveys and studies undertaken
and/or funded by these organizations or workshops and meetings of
experts sponsored by them.
A UNEP/CARICOM (Caribbean Community) study (UNEP, 1984) was
undertaken in 1984 "because of the overabundant evidence of
pollution in the Caribbean Sea (mainly from land-based sources);
and because of detrimental effects of the numerous pollution
sources on coastal ecosystems (particularly fisheries and coral
reefs), which form a protective barrier to coastlines and coastal
property, and on the amenities providing marine recreational
activity for tourist industries" vital to financial viability of
most of the Caribbean islands. An inventory of pollutants and
their sources, by individual country throughout the Wider
Caribbean, was prepared under Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO) sponsorship, which identified adverse impacts to
ecosystems and public health (Archer,1984). An additional report
by Archer prepared for PAHO is in two volumes (Archer 1988a,
1988b) , and focuses upon sewage problems in the Eastern
Caribbean, base.d~on surveys there in 1987 and 1988.
In 1989, countries prepared national reports on
environmental priorities in the Caribbean for UNEP. EPA, with
input from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA), prepared the US national report contribution to this UNEP
effort (EPA, 1989), entitled "U.S. National Report on
Environmental Priorities in the Caribbean." Additionally, the
EPA Office of International Activities (OIA) funded a study in
1989 on land-based sources of marine pollution in the Caribbean,
which surveyed 34 nations. The study report (Betz, 1990),
evaluates the political, economic, social and legal
infrastructure in the region to support LBS protocol development.
An additional report, in draft (UNEP, 1989), was prepared by an
non-governmental organization (NGO) for UNEP, entitled "Inventory
of Types and Sources of Marine Pollution in the Wider Caribbean
Region, Including Factors Affecting Marine Environmental
Quality." UNEP also published a Regional Seas document in 1990,
Report 121, prepared with Greenpeace and titled "Environmental
Assessment of the Wider Caribbean Region" (Davidson, 1990).
The U.S. Department of State published a report (MAB, 1990)
entitled "Land-Based Sources of Marine Pollution in the Wider
Caribbean Region" as a result of the technical meeting hosted by
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Man and the Biosphere (MAB) in August 1989. EPA was represented
at this meeting through the Director of the Gulf of Mexico
Program and the Director of the EPA CAribbean Field Office. Four
key sections of this report, prepared by regional experts, cover
the following topics: 1) Inventory of Land-Based Sources of
Marine Pollution, 2) Impact of Land-Based Sources of Marine
Pollution, 3) Development of Tropical Water Quality and Effluent
Standards, 4) Marine Pollution Control strategy.
6.0 Technical Data
As late as August, 1989, it was reported at the MAB Workshop
in San Juan, Puerto Rico (MAB, 1990) that there is "virtually no
information on the physical and chemical characteristics of the
streams and coastal waters in the Region, except for data
obtained in the most developed countries." The physical data
sets that are lacking include such basic quantities as water
depths, stream flow velocities, seasonal sediment loads, marine
currents velocities, coastal wave data, tidal ranges, sea level
changes and littoral drift. The situation for microbiological
data is similar. This makes it very difficult to conduct
comprehensive analyses, and explains why the recognition of the
importance of the LBS problem came rather recently (since about
1983 and the signing of the Cartagena Convention). It should be
noted however, that the both effects of LBS in the marine
environment and the sources of the pollution are both evident and
documented, as is discussed below.
Some efforts have been made recently, with UNEP, EPA and
NOAA involvement, to move toward regional monitoring of both the
water medium and major known LBS sites. However, progress is
slow. Most of the eff.ort through 1992 will be at the experts
meeting and workshop level. Actual monitoring programs for many
ambient physical, chemical and biological parameters are still
some ways off.
The recognition of the LBS problem in the Caribbean is
largely a result of country-by-country studies conducted in the
1980's. The information from these surveys served to piece
together a picture of the extent of the source problem as well as
the range of the related impacts. The study conducted by Archer
(1984) provided estimates of specific source pollution discharges
and related these to clearly observable environmental effects.
Specific examples of coastal and marine ecosystems vital to
coastal fisheries that have sustained damage largely attributable
to identified sources of uncontrolled disposal of industrial
waste and sewage follow :
'All of th« quoted •ximpto* ir« from Archer (1984).
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"The discharge of oil waste into the mangrove system at
McKinnon's Salt Pond and ultimately into the adjacent
coral reef structure off St. Johns in Northwest
Antigua,"
"Cane sugar production waste and sewage effluents that
have destroyed the mangroves at Fitches Creek northeast
of Antiqua, and coral reef structures off Basseterre
Harbour, St. Kitts,.... suspected damage to coral reefs
and shoal 2 km offshore from Fitches Creek,"
"The oil waste pollution from oil refining industry
into the Gulf of Paria on the west of Trinidad, mixed
with toxic industrial waste and sewage effluents from
the Caroni Swamps, has damaged fisheries and poses
public health problems in adjacent coastal waters and
beaches,"
"Untreated sewage and excreta disposal in coastal
shallows off some islands of the Bahamas (e.g., off
north Andros), have all but destroyed the sponge
industry as well as some mangrove systems,"
"The discharge of numerous marine outfalls from septic
tank and package sewage treatment plants are causing
damage to coral reefs off the south, southwest, and
west coasts of Barbados with diminishing effects on
reef-fish propagation, and erosion of some reefs that
form barriers to the destructive effect of wave action
on beaches and sea-front property."
"In countries such as St. Kitts-Nevis with serious soil
erosion problems with their friable loose volcanic
soils, heavy loads of soils laden with pesticides and
other agricultural chemicals used in crop production
are swept into the sea and on to the reefs and marine
benthic systems,"
"In the Windward Islands in the South Caribbean
Antillean chain, fungicides, nematocides, ?»nri other
pesr controlling agents used in the production of
bananas reach the coastal and marine environment via
rivers and streams,"
"Some urban centers have old collection systems that
are now inadequate to cope with population growth and
industrial dsvelopaent. These systems generally have
no treatment capability; they discharge crude sewage
iiix.o harbors ana coastal areas.... Examples of such
systems can be found in Castries, r>aint Lueia, St.
Georges, and Grenada."
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o "In several of the countries studied (e.g., Barbados,
Bahamas, Belize, Montserrat and parts of Trinidad and
Tobago), the subsurface disposal of sewage poses
threats to potable ground water supplies and public
health."
The accumulating evidence from detailed country-by-country
surveys, such as the PAHO study cited above (Archer, 1984), have
caused the regional experts to conclude that the total range of
LBS problems contributes to upwards of 90% of the marine and
coastal pollution problems in the Caribbean. As detailed
inventories are constructed and more environmental observations
are made, this picture will be further refined and quantified.
It should be noted that even in Puerto Rico, which is U.S.
territory and where more data of all kinds are generally
available, only 60% of the population is served by a sanitation
sewage system. The situation for Puerto Rico is summarized in
the table on "Goals and Progress of State-wide Water Quality
Planning for Puerto Rico - Fiscal Year 1988-1989" provided in the
Appendix.
The major findings of the 1990 UNEP Regional Seas study,
Report 121, cited in the previous section are:
o Major flow of ocean surface water is from southeast to
northwest, into the Gulf of Mexico from the Caribbean
Sea,
o The WorldWatch population estimate for 1988 is two
hundred million, and an additional transient population
of ten million tourists annually, with less than 10% of
this population in the Caribbean Basin being served by
any form of sewage treatment (from a NOAA study),
o Run-off of agricultural chemicals is estimated at more
than one billion pounds per year,
o Coastal ecosystems near industrialized areas have
substantial concentrations of heavy metal contamination
(based on a 1987 UNEP finding),
o Petroleum pollution (estimated as mainly from land-
based sources), as floating tar and dissolved or
dispersed petroleum hydrocarbons, is severe and
endangers sea turtles and fish from causally related
declines in reproduction (from a Caripol 1980 study).
7.0 Approaches for Addressing The Problem
The countries of the Wider Caribbean represent a very wide
range of economic development and application of environmental
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protective measures. The United States as the most industrially
advanced and populous country in the region has had to confront
the problem of LBS and other pollution sources sooner than most
of the other countries. However, its early industrialization and
traditional sensitivity to public health issues has also
generally caused it to undertake early development of a basic
public health infrastructure consisting of sewage systems, water
treatment and trash disposal approaches that have avoided or
minimized some of the problems now widespread among many of the
other countries of the region.
Nevertheless, the LBS related problems in the Gulf of Mexico
remain serious, as they do for Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin
Islands. Moreover, as noted in UNEP Report 121, cited in the
previous section, the common ocean currents systems of the Wider
Caribbean (mainly the Loop Current) tend to circulate pollutants
from the north coast of South America, the Caribbean coast of
Latin America, past the Island countries and Puerto Rico, and
into the Gulf of Mexico and around Florida.
As a result, U.S. Gulf Coast states are directly in the path
of this common pollution stream. For example, Texas has been
making a major effort to address their local Gulf coastal
pollution problems, but has found these local efforts are being
limited by the imported pollution levels (particularly in the
form of marine debris) from the Caribbean. The Gulf of Mexico
Program (GOMP) and individual U.S. Gulf Coast states, such as
Texas, are actively urging the Department of State to assist in
addressing the jMroblem on a multinational basis.
8.0 Technical References
ACOPS: Advisory Committee on Pollution of the Sea, A Note on The
Need to Adopt a Protocol on Land-based Pollution in the Wider
Caribbean. Paper presented to the Meeting of Experts on the
Caribbean Environment Program, Mexico City, Mexico, 7-9,
September 1988
Archer, Arthur B., Report on Land-Based Sources of Pollution in
Coastal. Marine and Land Areas of CARICOM States. Pan American
Health Organization, undated (1984)
Archer, Arthur B., Synopsis of Report of Sewage Disposal and
Identified National Projects. Volume I-A of Regional Sewage
Disposal and Coastal Conservation Studies, Pan American Health
Organization (PAHO), undated (1988a)
Archer, Arthur B., Report on Sewage Disposal Problems in the
Eastern Caribbean. Volume II of Regional Sewage Disposal and
Coastal Conservation Studies, Pan American Health Organization
(PAHO), undated (1988b)
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Atwood, O.K., Regional Oceanography as it Relates to Present and
Future Pollution Problems and Living Resources in the Caribbean,
the IOC/FAO/UNEP International Workshop on Marine Pollution in
the Caribbean and Adjacent Regions, IOC Workshop Report No. 11,
Supplement, UNESCO, Paris, 1977
Betz, Karen, A Report on Land-Based Sources of Marine Pollution
in the Caribbean. Environmental Protection Agency/ Office of
International Activities, EPA 101/F-90/040, #89-6602, October
1990
CARIPOL, CARIPOL Manual for Petroleum Pollution Monitoring. NOAA,
Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Miami,
Florida, 1980
Chow,B.A., Overview of Coastal Zone Management in Jamaica,, Paper
presented to Commonwealth Science Council Project Planning
Meeting and Workshop in Coastal Zone Management, St. Lucia, July
1985, 27 p.
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Studies, No. 39, 1990
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92-3-101356-4), 1982
GOMP (Gulf of Mexico Program), America's Sea at Risk. First
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Commonwealth Science Council - Caribbean Small Islands, 1981
16
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IOC/UNEP, Report of the CEPPOL Regional Workshop on Coastal Water
Quality Criteria and Guidelines for the Wider Caribbean. CEPPOL
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MAB: U.S. Department of State/ Man and the Biosphere
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1990
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UNEP/ECLAC, The State of Marine Pollution in the Wider Caribbean
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Environmental Quality, in preparation, UNEP, draft: 25 April 1989
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Caribbean Basins. Columbia University Press, 1964
17
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APPENDIX
Goals and Progress of State-Wide Water Quality Planning for Puerto Rico
Fiscal Year 1988-1989
18
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ML PHWRESS Of STAIlHlDt HATER OWLllT PLAMIK& F(4) fltffilO RICO - FlSCfll. «€M t988-6«
8f.SU WiEB
SPPPORI
Of CM. COALS
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