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Flood Protection
Floods killed over five hundred people and
destroyed $33 billion in homes and property
between the years 1996 and 2000. States with the
greatest loss of life and homes are Ohio,
Kentucky, Indiana, California, Missouri,
Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and South Dakota.
These are states that have allowed between 80
and 91 percent of their wetlands to be
destroyed.
Wetlands, left in place, act as sponges, soaking
up hundreds of thousands of gallons of storm
water per acre. When wetlands are drained,
filled, and developed with homes, businesses,
farms, and highways, the area cannot contain the
same amount of storm water as before the
development. The result is frequent flooding,
and costly damages to property owners.
Who
picks up the tab? Property owners bear the brunt
of the immediate hardship and costs, but in the
final analysis, all taxpayers share in the
overall cost of cleanups and repairs.
Erosion Control
The
force of rushing storm water tears soil away
from stream banks in a process called "erosion".
The soil that is eroded from stream banks
(sediment) becomes trapped in the rushing water
as it continues downstream. When this rushing
water and its sediment load reach a wetland, its
velocity is greatly reduced, because wetlands
are usually wide and flat, and because the
wetland plants hold soil in place. As a result
of the reduction of water velocity, properties
adjacent to, and downstream from, wetlands
suffer considerably less loss of property due to
erosion.
After wetlands have been drained, filled and
developed, the resulting loss of their erosion
control function can be expected to affect
taxpayers. Many states, finally recognizing the
value of having wetlands to control erosion, are
spending huge amounts of taxpayers dollars to
restore them. Other states, such as Minnesota,
where wetlands are being drained at an average
rate of 5,000 acres a year, are spending an
estimated $1.5 million (taxpayer money) annually
to offset the loss of the erosion control
function that had been formerly provided by
these wetlands.
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