The
Baltic Sea is a drop in the ocean, almost literally. The oceans cover 70% of
the world's surface, and the Baltic Sea holds ~0.001% of the world's water
reservoir. There are 85 million people living in the Baltic catchment area;
splitting the Baltic Sea equally between them would give ~100 swimming pools
(Olympic size), or a relatively small lake's worth of water for everyone. In comparison, distributing the
world's oceans to the global population would give enough water for filling ~100 000 swimming pools for every person. Although that is a lot of water, it is finite,
and this exemplifies the shortcomings of the old saying: “the solution to
pollution is dilution” for marine habitats in general and for the Baltic Sea in
particular.
