All across Kentucky, our streams and their surrounding lands represent some of Kentucky's most valuable natural, cultural, and historical resources. The streams and rivers provide us with wonderful opportunities for fishing, swimming, and boating. The land provides us with valuable areas for farmland and for construction sites. We all want clean streams and good land for our use—and for our children’s use and for their children’s use . . . .

So, what's the problem?
Every time it storms, water drains from exposed soil, carrying some of the soil into our waterways. Eventually, this soil is carried through the stream system to larger rivers—lost forever to our Kentucky land. And, when the soil is washed into the streams, they become clogged with fine particles of soil called sediment.

Why is this a problem?
For one thing, excessive suspended silt and sediment can cause cloudiness, called turbidity. Turbidity can result in a variety of harmful impacts to fish. Some of the negative effects of turbidity include the following:

•	clogging and abrasion of the gills of fish and other aquatic organisms,
•	behavioral changes, including movement and migration,
•	decreased resistance to disease,
•	impairment of feeding (turbidity interferes with feeding for such fish as trout and bass),
•	poor egg and fry development, and
•	fatal impacts to small aquatic animals that are food for fish.

Another problem is that deposited silt and sediment can be harmful to the environment where fish live, called habitat. Fish habitat is any part of an aquatic system that provides any one of the following:

Some of the harmful impacts of silt and sediment deposits include the following:

•	The clogging of the small spaces between gravel particles prevents the free flow of oxygenated water and the removal of waste products from developing eggs deposited in the gravel. This often suffocates the eggs and may make gravel beds unsuitable for egg incubation.
•	The destruction of habitat for bottom dwelling organisms, such as crayfish and insects. Fish rely on these organisms for food.
•	The clogging of sheltered areas between boulders and gravel. Young fish need these areas as protection to survive.

So, when the soil is exposed to storms, we lose both the land and healthy streams.

But there is good news!
There are ways we can keep our streams healthy so that we can all enjoy them for many years to come. But it takes a lot of us making little changes! For example,

•	We can keep soil covered with plants— through the use of no-till farming (photo above) and grass-covered waterways (photo below)—so that the soil is not washed away when exposed to storms.
•	Next to streams, we can keep a strip of land—in urban areas, suburban areas, or croplands—covered with vegetation, unmowed. This is called a buffer zone, which keeps soil from washing into the streams.
•	If you have forests on your land, you can find out how you can preserve water quality. Learn how you can improve water quality using best management practices.
•	Plan and design work projects with care. For most construction or development projects that cause the release of silt and sediment, there are effective methods for removing suspended sediment from the work site and preventing it from entering streams. We can use temporary seeding of exposed soil until permament grading and planting are done.
•	We can temporarily protect soil run-off in contruction sites by using silt fences and straw bales (photos below) at places where rainwater will wash soil away.
•	Make sure that all equipment and materials going into the water are clean and free of fine particles.
•	You can access a really good brochure about preventing soil erosion during construction.

Want to learn more?
Ask the fisherman who no longer bothers to toss a line into a river that is choked by mud. Ask a public official who uses tax dollars to remove sediment from road ditches and rivers, and to remove sediment from drinking water.
 
Find out about the problems in your watershed by clicking on the place in Kentucky where you live. It also includes a list of people who can help you be a part of the solution.

Remember: If soil is exposed, cover it up!

Photo of farm soil runoff courtesy of USDA NRCS.
Photos of no-till, grassed waterway, and straw bales courtesy of KY DOC.