STREAM BANK EROSION

Erosion is a natural process and necessary to maintain good aquatic habitat in a stream. Too much erosion, however, can have the opposite effect, destabilizing stream banks, destroying in-stream habitat and causing significant sediment pollution problems downstream.

Severe erosion problems occur when either a stream's hydrology and/or sediment supply have been significantly altered. This often occurs when land use in a watershed changes. As a watershed becomes more urbanized, forest and agricultural fields are developed into residential housing complexes and commercial properties. As a result, the amount of impervious surfaces in a drainage basin increases, which in turn causes the amount of runoff entering a stream to also increase. The stream channel will adjust over time to the new flows by eroding the stream bed and banks to increase its size. This channel readjustment can extend over decades during which excessive amounts of sediment from unstable eroding stream banks can have very detrimental impacts on the stream's aquatic resources.

If you are interest in getting this problem fixed contact your local government.

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This page was updated on 4/8/2004