§ 14-125-103 - Legislative determination -- Consequences of erosion.
14-125-103. Legislative determination -- Consequences of erosion.
It is declared, as a matter of legislative determination, that the consequences of soil erosion in the form of soil-washing and soil-blowing are:
(1) The silting and sedimentation of stream channels, reservoirs, dams, ditches, and harbors;
(2) The loss of fertile soil material in dust storms;
(3) The piling up of soil on lower slopes and its deposit over alluvial plains;
(4) The reduction in productivity or outright ruin of rich bottom lands by overwash of poor subsoil material, sand, and gravel swept out of the hills;
(5) Deterioration of soil and its fertility, deterioration of crops grown thereon, and declining acre yields despite development of scientific processes for increasing such yields;
(6) Loss of soil and water which causes destruction of food and cover for wildlife;
(7) A washing and blowing of soil into streams which silts over spawning beds and destroys water plants, diminishing the food supply of fish;
(8) A diminishing of the underground water reserve, which causes water shortages, intensifies periods of drought, and causes crop failures;
(9) An increase in the speed and volume of rainfall runoff, causing severe and increasing floods, which bring suffering, disease, and death;
(10) Impoverishment of families attempting to farm eroding and eroded lands;
(11) Damage to roads, highways, railways, farm buildings, and other property from floods and from dust storms; and
(12) Losses in navigation, hydroelectric power, municipal water supply, irrigation developments, farming, and grazing.