Watershed and Wetlands

10.3 - Wetland Function and Value

Wetlands Improve Our Environment

Wetland Functions

​Help maintain water quality

• Recharge aquifers

• Reduce flood damage

• Provide habitat and food

• Recreation

• ​Wetlands have the ability to absorb many harmful pollutants, store them, break them down, and in some cases even use them as nutrients to grow wetland plants

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• Filters runoff full of sediment that comes from higher in the watershed

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Wetlands as a Filter

Wetland Flood Control

• Wetlands’ flatness and lush plant growth slows down the flow of water when it rains. 

• When this happens water may gently trickle into nearby streams or seep into the aquifer increasing the amount of groundwater

• When the water from heavy rains reaches wetlands, the water is slowed and the wetlands act as giant sponges​

• ​Humans can disrupt this natural flood control ability of wetlands by building levees along rivers, digging drainage ditches through wetlands, and channelizing streams which increase damage from floods

​Human ​Disruption

Wetlands as Tourist Attractions

• ​Each year Texas fishermen catch about 30 million pounds of wetland- dependent shrimp having a value of $100 million

• Texas is known around the world for great hunting and fishing

• Wetlands are also treasured by millions of photographers, boaters, hikers, and wildlife watchers, including tourists who come to Texas just to enjoy the natural beauty that our wetlands provide.

• Texas has lost over half the wetlands it had before settlement by Europeans. About 7 million acres of wetlands are gone​

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• ​Many were destroyed by being drained and filled with dirt to use for farming or as land on which to build our homes and businesses

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• ​Many of the wetlands that are left have been partially filled by sedimentation, polluted, or altered to the point they no longer function naturally

A Vanishing Treasure

• ​State and federal conservation agencies work together with wildlife conservation organizations to protect and restore wetlands

• ​Protection

• Restoration

• Mitigation-  a term that frequently occurs in discussions of restoration, "refers to the restoration, creation, or enhancement of wetlands to compensate for permitted wetland losses

A Vanishing Treasure