Protecting riparian buffers

What happens when riparian buffers are impaired?

As development increases in a watershed, more land is converted from its natural state to a type of impervious surface that water cannot filter through. Stormwater running off impervious surfaces can carry pollutants like litter, fertilizers, pesticides, and pet waste discharging into the nearest river or stream. Buffers help slow down and filter that runoff while also providing important wildlife habitat, aesthetic beauty, flood protection and more.  

When riparian buffers are impaired, storm runoff increases, giving it more opportunity to pick up natural and man-made pollutants that flow into the nearest waterway. This doesn't just mean nasty rivers — It means higher costs for water treatment.

Healthy, intact riparian buffers, like the ones you would find in a protected forested watershed or a healthy wetland, help slow down and filter that runoff, meaning cleaner water and lower treatment costs.

Buffers are also critical in reducing the frequency and intensity of flooding from severe rain events. The SC Emergency Management Division reported that after the historic floods that impacted Columbia in 2015, South Carolinian taxpayers absorbed $114 million of the $1 billion worth of property and infrastructure damage and clean-up.

The most effective way to combat these costs is to increase protection of ecosystems, meaning water sources and their surrounding forests, so they can help mitigate a flood’s impact.