The Importance Of Small Streams

Small streams are threatened by urbanization, logging, and agriculture. Scientists have uncovered evidence that makes stream more important in land-use policies.

1 minute read

May 5, 2001, 10:00 AM PDT

By Abhijeet Chavan @http://twitter.com/legalaidtech


"Nitrogen runoff into waterways has become an escalating environmental problem over the last 50 years, but a recent study found that small streams are extremely efficient at removing excess nitrogen?as much as half of the nitrogen that enters them...Land-use policies up until now have focused on terrestrial solutions for inhibiting nitrogen pollution...[w]hat this study shows is that we can reduce the amount of nitrogen that is being carried downstream by maintaining streams and wetland areas."

Thanks to Abhijeet Chavan

Friday, May 4, 2001 in National Geographic

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