POLLUTION OF UK ESTUARIES - HISTORICAL AND CURRENT PROBLEMS

Britain's estuaries have traditionally been attractive sites for industry due to their perceived powers to assimilate and disperse industrial effluents. Regulation is by a system of environmental quality objectives and standards. Increasingly, however, the concept of assimilative capacity is being superceded by an environmental protection philosophy based upon the precautionary principle. This is generally interpreted in terms of staged reductions of identified, listed priority pollutants. There are two major problems in conforming to such an approach. The first problem is historical, resulting from past discharges. It is illustrated by reference to high levels of PCBs and mercury in biological samples from the Liverpool Bay area. Some of the sources of these are identified and control implications considered. A second problem relates to the effluents currently discharged by industry. The complexity of effluents routinely discharged is discussed in relation to the effectiveness of their control. Given the difficulties of present approaches, the alternative of clean production, linked to a commitment to zero discharge within a structured time frame, is proposed as a more effective means of environmental protection.