Why are wetlands and floodplains so important?
Wetlands are afforded legal protection because they pay an important role in overall environmental quality through: protecting the groundwater and the private and pubic water supply; controlling pollution by acting as a filter for removing sediments, nutrients and other pollutants from runoff; reducing storm and flood damage by providing areas to retain and store water; and as habitat for fish and wildlife. Over half of this country’s original wetland acreage has been lost to agricultural and urban development. The cost of this loss in degraded water quality, increased storm damage, and depleted fish and wildlife populations have been well documented. Floodplains are protected because they provide “storage” for floodwaters during storms. Any alteration to the land that reduces this storage capacity will displace floodwaters and cause greater flooding elsewhere. Unfortunately, there are too many examples of damage to property and even loss of life through the cumulative effect to increm
