Journal of Marine Systems 18 Ž1999.

333–343

Pollution history of a tropical estuary revealed by combined

hydrodynamic modelling and sediment geochemistry
a,)
J.E. Andrews , A.M. Greenaway b,1, G.R. Bigg a , D.F. Webber c , P.F. Dennis a ,
G.A. Guthrie b
a
School of EnÕironmental Sciences, UniÕersity of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
b
Department of Chemistry, UniÕersity of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Kingston 7, Jamaica
c
Department of Life Sciences, UniÕersity of the West Indies, Mona Campus, Kingston 7, Jamaica
Received 31 July 1997; revised 27 April 1998; accepted 27 April 1998

Abstract

Hydrodynamic modelling of water movement in Hunts Bay, a protected part of Kingston Harbour, Jamaica, shows that
depth averaged tidal flows are very low. In the northeast corner of Hunts Bay, water is essentially stagnant. Even under high
flow conditions, much of the Bay bottom water is ‘bypassed’ by buoyant, lower salinity surface flows. The muddy
sediments of Hunts Bay reflect these sluggish to stagnant conditions; sediment cores from the northeast corner of the Bay
contain progressively higher amounts of organic matter in their upper parts Ž; last 15–20 years sedimentation.. Combined
CrN ratios and stable carbon isotope compositions of this organic matter imply a sewage origin. Both lead and chromium
metal concentrations and enrichment factors relative to average crustal shales show geographically related patterns that
reflect hydrodynamic circulation predicted by modelling. In particular, metal concentrations and enrichment factors are
highest at the northern end of the bay, especially in the northeast corner. Modelling confirms that stagnant conditions would
occur in the northeast part of the bay even without the presence of a major causeway. The causeway may contribute to low
flow conditions, but is not the principal cause of organic contamination, which is simply an excessive input of sewage.
q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: pollution; sewage; estuary; modelling; stable isotopes; Jamaica

1. Introduction years, in this case, as the population of Kingston

Kingston Harbour, Jamaica, like many nearshore
waters around the world, has been impacted seri-
ously by anthropogenic contaminants for at least 30
)
Corresponding author. Tel.: q44-603-592536; Fax: q44-66-
507719; E-mail: j.andrews@uea.ac.uk
1
E-mail: tgreen@uwimona.edu.jm.
City has grown. These contaminants have affected
water quality and the diversity of benthic and water
column organisms ŽGoodbody, 1970; Wade et al.,
1972; Webber, 1997.. There is clear evidence that
the principal problems are related to eutrophication
of the Harbour waters ŽMoore and Sander, 1982.,
linked to mainly riverine inputs of nutrients ŽN and
P. and organic matter—particularly sewage ŽWebber,
1997..

0924-7963r99r$ - see front matter q 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 4 - 7 9 6 3 Ž 9 8 . 0 0 0 1 9 - 0
334 J.E. Andrews et al.r Journal of Marine Systems 18 (1999) 333–343
In this multidisciplinary study we integrate the
findings of two separate studies on sediment chem-
istry ŽAndrews et al., 1993. and modelled water
circulation ŽBigg and Webber, in press. for Hunts
Bay, a restricted part of Kingston Harbour. This
approach, using independently collected but comple-
mentary data, allows us to address: Ž1. the history of
organic-pollution; Ž2. the underlying causes for the
observed pollution history, particularly in the north-
east part of the Bay where a causeway has been
suspected of affecting water flow; and Ž3. strategies
for remediation. Hunts Bay is an apposite study site,
representing not simply a polluted subenvironment
of Kingston Harbour, but also a well constrained
case history, relevant to other anthropogenically im-
pacted tropical estuaries.
2. Hunts Bay, Kingston Harbour
2.1. Geography
Hunts Bay is a 2.2 km2 restricted embayment
ŽFig. 1. with an average water depth of about 1.5 m.
The bay waters are very turbid Ž30–60 cm sechi disk
reading., in part due to primary production ŽWade et
al., 1972.. The bottom waters are always saline
Ž) 20‰., although the surface waters frequently
reflect freshwater inputs, principally from the Rio
Cobre ŽFig. 1., but also the Duhaney river and,
during storms, Sandy Gully ŽFig. 1., a storm drain
for west Kingston city. Various industrial Žbrewery-,
food processing- and leather tanning. and domestic
Žsewage. organic wastes are carried into the bay by
these rivers and other small gullies which drain into
the northeast corner of the bay ŽFig. 1; see also,
Andrews et al., 1998; Webber, 1997; Bigg and Web-
ber, in press, Fig. 1..
2.2. Organic inputs and water quality
The organic inputs cause high bacterial levels and
promote water column primary production Žalgal and
diatom blooms., leading to excessive oxygen con-
sumption during microbial respiration of dead phyto-
plankton cells. These low oxygen conditions, exacer-
bated by sewage with high biochemical oxygen de-
mand ŽBOD., cause oxygen-stressed conditions that
kill fish and benthic invertebrates ŽWade et al., 1972.;
an important consideration since Kingston Harbour
is a traditional nearshore fishery ŽWade et al., 1972;
Webber, 1993a..
Phytoplankton community composition provides
the most reliable index of water quality ŽWebber,
1997.. This index shows significant deterioration of
water quality in parts of the harbour over the last 20
years, particularly in Hunts Bay. In 1992–1993,
values of BOD ) 75.2 mg ly1 were clearly indica-
tive of high organic pollution in the Bay, probably
untreated sewage ŽWebber, 1997.. It has been thought
for some time that pollution problems in Hunts Bay
were exacerbated by construction of a causeway and
road bridge in the mid 1960s that reduced the natural
2.5 km wide connection with the rest of Kingston
Harbour, to a narrow channel about 200 m wide.
Recently, Andrews et al. Ž1998. used CrN ratios
and stable carbon isotope ratios Ž d13 C org . to identify
the principal source of organic matter reaching the
Hunts Bay estuary bed. They showed that the labile,
nitrogenous component of suspended particulate or-
ganic matter ŽSPOM. in the surface waters is oxi-
dized in the water column, or on the sediment sur-
face—but is not much altered once buried in the
sediment. Moreover, the d13 C SPOM is hardly affected
by this water column oxidation, except in the north-
east part of the Bay, where surface sediments appear
to have retained isotopically lighter lignin fractions.
Andrews et al. Ž1998. interpret their d13 C SPOM val-
ues Žy20 to y25‰. to be a mixture of Ž1. in situ
phytoplankton organic matter, Ž2. terrestrial river-
borne SPOM, Ž3. terrestrial river-borne bottom sedi-
ment particulate organic matter ŽPOM. and Ž4. an-
thropogenic inputs—principally sewage. They also
showed that the sewage component is most abundant
in the upper part of sediment cores from the north
and northeast parts of the Bay ŽFig. 1..
3. Methods
3.1. Modelling
The modelled information comes from a two di-
mensional finite-element model ŽBigg and Webber,
 J.E. Andrews et al.r Journal of Marine Systems 18 (1999) 333–343 335

Fig. 1. Maps of ŽA. Kingston Harbour, showing location of Hunts Bay, and ŽB. Hunts Bay showing geographical features and sample sites.
One dot denotes a SPOM and surface sediment sample site. Two dots indicates where cores were also taken. PRs Port Royal,
CPRSs Causeway Bridge Port Royal side, CHBSs Causeway Bridge Hunts Bay side, RC s Rio Cobre mouth, RCŽ100 m. s 100 m
upstream of Rio Cobre mouth, FV s Fishing Village, MB s Mid Bay, DR s Duhaney River mouth, SG s Sandy Gully mouth, 3M s Three
Mile, NEB s North East of Bay.

in press. designed to examine the circulation of, and viding the geometry of the harbour into 4514 finite
particle trajectories within, Kingston Harbour, in- elements, and using the Galerkin finite-element
cluding Hunts Bay. Equations of motion ŽNinomiya method to construct a matrix equation linking the
and Onishi, 1991. were solved numerically by subdi- velocity and height fields of each of the 2415 nodes.
336 J.E. Andrews et al.r Journal of Marine Systems 18 (1999) 333–343
All model runs used the same tidal and wind forcing
from a 7-day period, 7 AM Žlocal time., 28 August
1993 to 7 AM, 4 September 1993. Seven river inputs
to Hunts Bay ŽWebber, 1993b. had significant dis-
charge during high flow conditions, while at low
flow only four of these were significant for mod-
elling.
Modelling was validated using three tide
gaugercurrent meter moorings. Comparison of the
modelled and observed tidal data is good ŽBigg and
Webber, in press.. However, comparison of single
depth current meter data with depth-averaged com-
putations is less good—especially in parts of Hunts
Bay where the flow is dominantly two layer. The
modelled flow trajectories are thus representative of
bulk flow, rather than of the surface or of a particular
depth. However, as has been verified observation-
ally, water flow in the upper, shallow, low salinity
layer of Hunts Bay follows a similar path to the
modelled bulk flow, but at much greater speed dur-
ing high flow conditions.
3.2. Geochemistry
Surface sediments Ž0–15 cm. and sediment cores
were collected in December 1992 from sites shown
in Fig. 1 Žfull details in Andrews et al., 1998.. Total
carbon and nitrogen concentrations were measured
on a Carlo Erba EA 1108 elemental analyser with a
1s precision of "0.03 wt.% C and "0.0015 wt.%
N Žfull method in Andrews et al., 1998.. The method
of analysis of stable carbon isotopes Ž d13 C VPDB
scale. in carbonate carbon and total carbon is de-
scribed in Andrews et al. Ž1998. and Andrews et al.
Ž1993.. The 2 s precision of "0.16‰ for carbonate
d13 C and "0.30‰ for total carbon d13 C, yield an
experimental error for d13 C org Žcalculated as total
d13 C y carbonate d13 C. of 0.63‰ by the method of
paired duplicates ŽTaylor, 1987; n s 21 duplicate
pairs.. Weight percent organic carbon ŽC org . and
organic carbon d13 C were calculated from the total
values by differencermass balance, respectively
ŽAndrews et al., 1998.. Weight percent C org corre-
lates positively with wt.% total-N ŽAndrews et al.,
1998., suggesting that total-N can be used to esti-
mate organic-N ŽHedges et al., 1986..
Chromium and lead were determined by flame
atomic absorption spectroscopy ŽAAS., after digest-
ing 0.5 g of dried sample in 12 ml of aqua regia and
then in 12 ml HFrHCl Ž1:5., and then dissolving the
residue in 1 mol dmy3 HCl and diluting to 100 ml in
doubly distilled water. The 2 s precisions for Cr and
Pb in uncontaminated samples were 7 and 1.5, re-
spectively, determined on 6 repeated analyses from
one sample ŽCr s 30.6 mg gy1 , Pb s 39.4 mg gy1 .,
while in contaminated samples they were 42 and 43,
respectively by the paired duplicate method of Tay-
lor Ž1987., with mean Cr s 215 mg gy1 from nine
pairs and mean Pb s 381 mg gy1 from seven pairs.
Aluminium was determined by instrumental neu-
tron activation analysis ŽINAA. by the method of
Lalor et al. Ž1990.. Standard reference materials
analysed along with the samples gave Al concentra-
tions within "5% of certified values. A 2 s preci-
sion of 0.12 was determined by six replicate analyses
on sub-samples from an in-house standard ŽAl s
7.14%..
4. Modelling, sedimentology and geochemistry—
results and interpretation
During low river flows, depth-averaged tidal flow
in the majority of Inner Kingston Harbour is very
weak, - 1 cm sy1 ŽBigg and Webber, in press..
However, the impact of the Rio Cobre and Duhaney
River are clear in Hunts Bay, especially under high
flow conditions ŽFig. 2a and b.. In the west part of
the bay, water from the Rio Cobre recirculates ŽFV
sample site, Fig. 1., rather than draining through the
causeway channel. Under low flow conditions, dis-
charge from the Duhaney River causes the main tidal
circulation in Hunts Bay, although during the flood-
ing tide, circulation is deflected into the northeast
corner of the Bay Ž3M sample site, Fig. 1. where
water flow is essentially zero. This is corroborated
by field observations of flotsam, water surface scum
and floating algal mats which accumulate and are
trapped in this area Žsee also Green and Webber,
1996.. The net movement of modelled week-long
trajectories for particles at various points in Hunts
Bay are all small ŽFig. 2a., particularly in the north
east part, showing that pollutant transport will be
slow and contained within the Bay. For much of the
 J.E. Andrews et al.r Journal of Marine Systems 18 (1999) 333–343
Fig. 2. Maps of modelled area, Hunts Bay-Port Royal area shown on Fig. 1A. Vertical and horizontal scales are in metres. Ža. Week-long trajectories with weak river inflow
Žcurrent Hunts Bay coastline.. Trajectories start from the large dot. Note that these are compiled from hourly results and so include both tidal and residual flow. Žb. Modelled
flow at near maximum flood tide with high river inflow Žcurrent Hunts Bay coastline.. The river inputs are shown by arrows perpendicular to the boundary.

337
338 J.E. Andrews et al.r Journal of Marine Systems 18 (1999) 333–343

year Hunts Bay is probably flushed only by diffusive
processes with flushing times of several months or
more. In addition, the large vertical salinity differ-
ence between the rapidly moving volume of fresh
river water and the salty bottom water in the Bay,
means that in general, entrainment is relatively lim-
ited, the stratification being too strong. This means
that even during high flows, bottom sediments are
not greatly disturbed.
During high river flow conditions ŽFig. 2b. the
much stronger discharge of the Rio Cobre causes net
movement of particles from the central part of the
Bay. Nutrient and particulate-rich lower salinity sur-
face waters are swept out of the Bay, especially
during major flood events, impacting both the inner
and outer parts of Kingston Harbour ŽWebber et al.,
1992; Webber, 1997., and parts of the nearby Hell-
shire coast and coral ecology ŽShurland et al., 1989;
Woodley, 1989.. However, in the southwest and
northeastern corners of Hunts Bay net flows are
trapped ŽSW. and low ŽNE., suggesting that these
areas are not well-flushed, even during flood condi-
tions ŽFig. 2b..
These results suggest that Hunts Bay sediments
should predominantly reflect deposition in quiet, and
in places, virtually stagnant water. This is confirmed

Fig. 3. Sedimentological log and downcore profiles in wt.% C org , CrN, d13 C org , Cr and Pb concentrations for the Three Mile site Ž3M on
Fig. 1.. Black shade denotes sulphidic sediment, while horizontal bars depict millimeter-scale laminae. Bivalve shells appear below 70 cm in
the sediment. The peak in C org between 30 and 40 cm is also present in the Cr and Pb profiles. A rough chronology Ždates. has been applied
based on a linear sediment accumulation rate of 2.6 cm yry1 derived from preliminary 210 Pb results from a duplicate core at the Three Mile
site ŽGreenaway, personal communication, 1998..
 J.E. Andrews et al.r Journal of Marine Systems 18 (1999) 333–343
by sediment sampling and coring which shows that
Hunts Bay sediments are mainly muddy riverine and
marine suspended sediments, deposited in quiet wa-
ter conditions ŽAndrews et al., 1998.. Occasional silt
and fine-sand laminae in the Rio Cobre and Sandy
Gully mouth cores ŽRC and SG sites, Fig. 1. repre-
sent storm spate deposition. However, well-pre-
served lamination, particularly in the upper part of
the Three Mile core ŽFig. 3. and the general lack of
macro fauna, demonstrate a lack of bioturbation. The
black muds at Žand to 10’s cm below. the surface are
anoxic and sulphidic, and dissolved oxygen is gener-
ally low or absent at the base of the water column
ŽWebber, personal communication; Andrews et al.,
1998, table 1.. The laminated muds in the upper part
of the Three Mile core clearly represent deposition
under stagnant conditions ŽFig. 3. as predicted by the
modelling. The less distinct lamination below 60 cm,
and a shelly horizon between 69–80 cm depth ŽFig.
3., appear to represent sedimentation and infauna
before stagnant anoxic conditions prevailed. Prelimi-
nary 210 Pb results from a duplicate core at the Three
Mile site ŽGreenaway, personal communication,
1998., suggests a linear sediment accumulation rate
of 2.6 cm yry1 . Assuming no major time breaks, a
rough chronology can be applied to the Three Mile
core Žsee Fig. 3..
Down core POM and geochemical variation in the
Three Mile core data ŽFig. 3. is attributed mainly to
change in the supply rate—and type—of organic
matter, and partly due to microbial-consumption in
the sediment. The larger wt.% C org values near the
top of the core ŽFig. 3. suggest that the amount of
organic matter accumulation there has increased to
the present day, particularly over the last 10 years.
The sulphidic sediments at the top of the core show
that anaerobic Žsulphate-reducing. microbial con-
sumption of organic matter is most efficient in the
upper 10 cm of the sediment, presumably reducing
the C org content somewhat. Values between 2 and 3
wt.% C org below 40 cm Žbefore ca. 1980. probably
represent carbon accumulation before stagnant condi-
tions occurred, or at least before they intensified.
The sample from the shelly horizon at 75 cm Žca.
1967. has a distinctive CrN of 9.8 and d13 C org of
y22.2‰ ŽFig. 3. consistent with fully marine condi-
tions at this time ŽAndrews et al., 1998.. Samples
from 68–58 cm ŽFig. 3. have CrN around 15.8 and
339
d13 C org of y25.0‰, similar to those from Rio Co-
bre bottom sediment POM ŽAndrews et al., 1998,
table 3. and typical values for degraded terrestrial
POM ŽBordovsky, 1965.. This suggests a change
from fully marine conditions to sedimentation with
increasing input of terrestrial organic matter in the
early 1970s. Data from the upper 50 cm Žlast ca. 20
years. of the Three Mile core cluster between CrN
ratios of 10.5 to 13.5 and d13 C org of y23.5 to
y24.5‰ ŽFig. 3. reflecting increasing organic mat-
ter input from sewage in recent times ŽAndrews et
al., 1998..
5. Impact of the Hunts Bay causeway
It is clear from the discussion above that: Ž1.
water circulation in Hunts Bay as a whole is slug-
gish; and Ž2., that the northeast area of the Bay is
essentially stagnant, resulting in the present day ac-
cumulation and sedimentation of sewage supplied by
rivers and drainage gullies. It is therefore important
to know if the present organic pollution and resultant
eutrophication has been caused by, or amplified by,
construction of the causeway and road bridge in the
mid-1960s.
To examine the impact of the causeway, the
hydrodynamic model was adapted to the pre-cause-
way geometry ŽFig. 4a and b., with water depths
interpolated from adjacent present day depths. The
high flow model results with pre-causeway geometry
ŽFig. 4b. clearly show more complete circulation
between the Hunts Bay area and the western part of
Kingston Harbour, especially during ebb tides Žcf.
Fig. 2b.. However, the poor-flushing of the south-
western and particularly the northeastern parts of
Hunts Bay are still evident. This suggests that the
stagnant conditions in the northeast of Hunts Bay
would have existed before construction of the cause-
way. This is clearly visible in the week long trajecto-
ries for the low flow simulation ŽFig. 4a..
The up-core changes in sediment type in the
Three Mile core ŽFig. 3., from relatively pristine
estuarine sediment in the late 1960s, through pro-
gressively increasing organic-matter Žsewage. con-
tent to the present day, therefore mainly reflect the
increasing load of sewage pollution with time, rather
 340
J.E. Andrews et al.r Journal of Marine Systems 18 (1999) 333–343
Fig. 4. Maps of modelled area, Hunts Bay-Port Royal area shown on Fig. 1A. Vertical and horizontal scales are in metres. Ža. Week-long trajectories with weak river inflow
Žpre-causeway Hunts Bay coastline.. Trajectories start from the large dot. Žb. Modelled flow at near maximum flood tide with high river inflow Žpre-causeway Hunts Bay
coastline..
 J.E. Andrews et al.r Journal of Marine Systems 18 (1999) 333–343 341

than the effect of decreased circulation caused by
construction of the causeway.
6. Metal pollution history
The concentrations and distributions of total sedi-
ment lead ŽPb. and chromium ŽCr. are consistent
with the organic pollution and hydrodynamic model
predictions. The concentration ranges for Cr and Pb
in cores taken from sites shown in Fig. 1b Žexcept
RC100. are given in Table 1. Enrichment factors
ŽEF s  ErAl4sampler ErAl4crust ; where E s either Cr
or Pb. were calculated relative to Al normalised
crustal shale concentrations ŽMiekle, 1979. to min-
imise effects of grain size variation.
Both concentrations and enrichment factors sepa-
rate the Cr data into three groups; Ž1. 3M site with
high Cr Ž26–680 mg gy1 . and relatively high EF
Ž0.4–6.2.; Ž2. DR, NEB, MB, CHBS and FV sites
with Cr 30–80 mg gy1 and EF 0.3–0.9; and Ž3. SG,
RC and CPRS sites with Cr - 30 mg gy1 and EF -
0.3. The Pb data separates into 4 groups; Ž1. 3M site
with Pb ) 300 mg gy1 and EF ) 16; Ž2. DR and SG
sites with Pb 40–200 mg gy1 and EF 3.0–10.0; Ž3.
MB and NEB sites with Pb 30–70 mg gy1 and EF
1.5–3.5; and Ž4. CHBS, RC, FV and CPRS sites
with Pb - 50 mg gy1 and EF 0.5–2.5.. These groups
are clearly geographically related and reflect the
circulation patterns predicted by the hydrodynamic
model. Both metals have higher concentrations within
the bay than at the mouth of the Rio Cobre Žinflow.
and on the Harbour side of the causeway bridge
Žoutflow.: moreover, concentrations and enrichment
factors are highest at the northern end of the bay.
especially in the Three Mile corner where the circu-
lation model predicts stagnant conditions.
The clear history of organic pollution in the north-
east of Hunts Bay is reinforced by increased Pb and
Cr concentrations in the upper, organic-rich, 40 cm
Žlast ca. 15 years. of the Three Mile Core ŽFig. 3.
relative to the less organic-rich, lower part ŽGuthrie,
1998.. Higher lead concentrations in the upper part
of the core Ž) 400 mg gy1 above 46 cm; - 350 mg
gy1 below 46 cm. probably reflect increased deposi-
tion of atmospheric Pb Žroad dust. from increasing
use of automobiles. The slight up core increase in Cr
ŽFig. 3; ) 100 mg gy1 above 46 cm; - 40 mg gy1
below 46 cm. is probably related to increased indus-
trial waste, particularly Cr salts used for leather
tanning. There is no clear evidence that these metal
contamination histories are directly associated Ži.e.,
speciated. with increased organic Žsewage. wastes,
although both Cr and Pb concentrations are anoma-
lously high in the 30–40 cm region, where wt.%
C org also peaks ŽFig. 3..
The high Pb concentrations in the SG core occur
in the top 15 cm of sediment Ž- 80 mg gy1 below
15 cm, while the DR core concentrations are ) 90
mg gy1 throughout, except in the 10–25 cm depth
region. These values are consistent with a road dust
source of Pb reaching the SG site during rainfall
events and a gradual accumulation of sediment at the
DR site contaminated by leachate from the Riverton

Table 1
Concentration ranges and enrichment factors for Cr and Pb in Hunts Bay sediment cores Žafter Guthrie, 1998.
Site Core depth Žcm. Cr Žmg gy1 . Pb Žmg gy1 . EFCr EFPb
3M 0–51 26–680 320–830 0.4–6.2 16.2–26.6
DR 0–55 Ž18. 25–69 Ž49. 60–166 Ž0.2. 0.4–0.8 3.0–9.5
SG 0–60 7–27 36–197 na na
NEB 0–44 Ž14. 30–56 31–67 Ž0.1. 0.3–0.4 1.5–2.7
MB 0–66 30–55 38–71 0.3–0.5 1.8–3.4
CHBS 0–30 38–81 19–22 0.5–0.9 0.8–1.4
FV 0–33 40–74 11–45 Ž55. 0.4–0.7 0.5–2.5
RC 0–35 7–25 18–36 0.1–0.3 0.9–1.7
CPRS 0–30 19–28 19–41 0.1–0.3 1.0–2.3 Ž3.1.

EF s ErAl4samplerErAl4crust ; where E s either Cr or Pb. Crustal shale concentrations ŽMiekle, 1979. were used as the reference.
na s No Al data available.
Numbers in brackets are outliers.
342 J.E. Andrews et al.r Journal of Marine Systems 18 (1999) 333–343
City Dump ŽFig. 1.. The highest Pb and Cr concen-
trations in the Three Mile core Žpeaking at 833 mg
gy1 Pb and 680 mg gy1 Cr. are typically more than
double those of values from cores elsewhere in the
Bay. These peak values are comparable, or higher
than those found in other grossly polluted estuaries
Žsee, e.g., Greig et al., 1977; Greig and McGrath,
1977..
7. Remediation and monitoring
We have shown above, that the principal cause of
organic pollution in Hunts Bay, Kingston Harbour
has arisen from increased input of sewage as Kingston
city has developed. In this case, hard engineering
Žcauseway construction. causing reduced water cir-
culation was probably only a contributory factor to
pollution problems.
It seems clear that only a decrease in sewage
discharge can have a significant remedial effect on
organic pollution in this area. Webber Ž1997. specu-
lated that diversion of sewage from Dawkins Pond
ŽFig. 1. may have led to an improvement of water
quality at Kingston Harbour mouth within six months.
This suggests that general improvements to water
quality could result from widespread reduction or
diversion of sewage away from poorly flushed areas.
The most cost-efficient monitoring of the effective-
ness of remediation would be three monthly surveys
of phytoplankton community composition ŽWebber,
1997., accompanied by nutrient and field water
chemistry data. This simple and cheap monitoring is
applicable to any sewagernutrient impacted tropical
estuary.
Acknowledgements
The British Council funded the link in Environ-
mental Chemistry between the Chemistry Depart-
ment ŽUWI. and the School of Environmental Sci-
ences ŽUEA.. We thank Terrance Hall, Sharonmae
Smith-Shirley, Debbie Barnes-Leslie and Tim Jick-
ells for assistance in the field. The School of Envi-
ronmental Sciences ŽUEA. provided funds for geo-
chemical analyses. Liz Rix, Rachel Lachowycz,
Gareth Lee and Leon Clarke ran the elemental anal-
yser. We thank the journal referees for their con-
structive comments.
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