§ 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.

Legislative History

Acts 1937, No. 197, § 2; Pope's Dig., § 11834; A.S.A. 1947, § 9-902.