Why Should We Worry About Soil Erosion?

Water and wind carry soil from our Bay Area land down into our streams, lakes, and the Bay. This soil carries with it pollutants such as oil and grease, chemicals, fertilizers, animal wastes and bacteria, which threaten our water quality.

Nature slowly wears away land, but human activities such as construction increase the rate of erosion 200, even 2,000 times that amount. When we remove vegetation or other objects that hold soil in place, we expose it to the action of wind and water and increase its chances of eroding.

The loss of soil from a construction site results in loss of topsoil, minerals and nutrients, and it causes ugly cuts and gullies in the landscape. Surface runoff and the materials it carries with it clog our culverts, flood channels and streams. Sometimes it destroys wildlife and damages recreational areas such as lakes and reservoirs.

Such erosion costs the home construction industry, local governments, and homeowners of the Bay Area millions of dollars a year. We have to pay for damage to roads and property and our tax money has to be spent on cleaning out sediment from storm drains, channels, lakes, and the Bay. As an example, road and home building in the Oakland hills above Lake Temescal filled the lake to such an extent that it had to be dredged in 1979 at a public cost of $750,000.