Bodies of water fill a vast array of human needs, from drinking water to commercial uses to recreation and aesthetics. The color and clarity, or the visual appearance, of water is determined by the amount and kind of materials dissolved and suspended in it. This visual appearance is how most people assess the cleanliness of the water and its suitability for recreational purposes. Therefore, connecting optical properties of water with monitored impacts may become an effective way to assess habitat change in a wide range of coastal areas. All water bodies are impacted by natural and anthropogenic, or human-induced, stressors.
Stressors are events and inputs that affect ecosystem function.
Nutrients, principally nitrogen and phosphorus, are often carried into coastal waters attached to sediments and by precipitation, which is why phytoplankton blooms result from large storms, which increase nutrient loading. Nitrogen and phosphorus are key nutrients in the eutrophication of estuaries and coastal bays. Human Activity Impact Agriculture Increase in nutrient and chemical contaminated runoff, increase in the volume of runoff Dredging Changes the distribution of benthic communities and disturbs bottom sediments, increasing the sediment load and potentially re-releasing settled contaminates and attached nutrients Power Generation Contaminates the water and causes temperature pollution Sewage Discharge Increases the nutrient load Urban Development Increases runoff, erosion and contamination Coastal ecosystems are particularly impacted by anthropogenic stressors because of increasing development pressures within the coastal zone. Monitoring water quality is an important step in identifying changes in water quality and the underlying causes of these changes. Using hydrologic optics to monitor water quality is one approach which may move us closer to cleaner water.