2 14 R e s to r i n g L a n d a n d Pl a n t i n g Tr ee s
Restoring Waterways and Wetlands
The plants and trees that grow
along the banks of streams and
rivers and in wetlands (areas where
the ground is wet or flooded all
year), do many important jobs in the
watershed. They control floods, clean
water, help surface runoff sink into the
ground, and provide homes to a variety of
animal and plant life.
Streams and rivers in cities and towns are
often made to flow in a straight line to control
flooding and make it easier to build around them.
But the straighter a stream or river, the faster water
flows through it. When water speeds up, it causes
more erosion of streambeds and banks and is more
likely to cause flooding downstream. Floods carry
large stones and logs downstream, so even in the dry
season you can tell if a river may flood by looking at
the size of the rocks and logs
in the streambed.
If a slow, shallow
river has large
stones in its bed in
the dry season, this
is a sign of dangerous
flooding that carries these
large stones downstream
in the rainy season. See
Chapter 9 for more
information
on restoring
watersheds.
This river will flow fast and
could cause erosion and
flooding downstream.
This river will flow slower, allowing water to sink into the ground.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012