Assessing Water Quality Status of Rivers, Estuaries and Coastal Waters

Dear Colleagues,

Rivers, estuaries and marine environment are experiencing increased preassure from anthropogenic acitivities and rising human population, resulting in deteriorating water quality of rivers, estuaries and coastal waters. A decline in the microbiological water quality of highly productive marine environement can have significant social and economic consequences, where recreational bathing and shellfish harvesting waters present a strong economic activity.

Pathogens are often responsible for the spread of waterborne diseases and they enter estuaries and coastal waters either through rivers as point sources, treated or un-treated effluent outfalls, combined sewer overflows, or from direct overland runoff. Besides microbiological water quality decline, nutrient enrichment on inland and coastal waters also presents a major threat to marine ecosystem by increasing the productivity of primary producers such as phytoplankton, microphytobentos, seagrass, and algae, resulting in harmful or toxic algal blooms and eutrophication episodes in coastal waters.

Coastal land use and development has a direct effect on water quality by creating more impermeable surfaces of urbanized areas and consequently increasing the run-off and transport of pollutants into rivers, estuaries, and coastal waters. The complex dynamics of coastal areas and marine ecosystem are challanging managers and decision makers to acquire evidence of ecological responses to declining water quality. Collecting data and information at relevant spatial and temporal scales under natural environmental variability and diversity of ecosystems is essential for decision making and monitoring large coastal areas. Remote sensing technologies can provide useful tools for the characterization of the marine ecosystem via enhanced spatial and temporal resolutions from a variety of remote sensors.

This Special Issue will focus on all of the above-mentioned aspects affecting rivers, estuaries, and coastal waters from land-based anthropogenic activities with the intention to provide a conceptual background and documented experiences that may be useful to those involved in scientific, management, or political issues related to the utilization and protection of coastal ecosystems.

Prof. Roko Andricevic
Guest Editor

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