Excerpt
MANY studies document the damage that sediment, nutrients, and other soil erosion-related pollutants cause in streams, lakes, reservoirs, and estuaries, but few studies attempt to calculate the economic costs of these damages. All recent economic studies are limited in the damage they consider, their geographic scopes, or, most commonly, both. The last estimate of national economic costs associated with erosion-related damages was made in 1946 (1). The Conservation Foundation recently completed a study that attempts to fill this gap (3).
Any such attempt must grapple with numerous problems. Many damages are only weakly documented. If the damages are well documented, the linkage between them and soil erosion is probably not. Even if the damages and linkages are known, it is difficult to assign economic values to the damages. Thus, the estimates given here are indicative, not definitive.
Instream damages
Instream damages are those caused by sediment, nutrients, and other erosion-related contaminants in streams and lakes. These include damages to aquatic organisms, water-based recreation, water storage facilities, and navigation
Biological impacts. Aquatic ecosystems can be seriously affected by sediment and other erosion-related contaminants in complex ways. Sediment can destroy spawning areas, food sources, and habitat as …
Footnotes
Edwin H. Clark, II, directs the water resources program at The Conservation Foundation, 1717 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036.
- Copyright 1985 by the Soil and Water Conservation Society
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