Research Paper

Jabre Friday
09/19/16

Flood control in Wetlands

Wetlands are important landscapes that is home to many different species and
are beneficial to people as well. There are flooding problems in these areas destroying
and disorganizing habitats because of dams, reservoirs, and dikes built by man. I feel
that the solution for this crisis can be resolved in multiple ways. One being by preplanning, which will help us stay prepared for any affects that can occur during, or after
the dam is built, switching runoff pathways, and try to keep the pollution separated from
the natural clean water. Keeping plant life growing is a major essential in wetlands
helping to provide life. By making these changes, the natural habitat will continue
flowing, bring all types of fish, birds, and plant life back where they belong, and keep
fish healthy enough for commercial fishing.
Humans have been building dams for a long period of time but they have been
altering water fluctuations. According to Paul A. Keddys Wetland Ecology Principles and
Conservation, Alteration of hydrology is believed to be one of the three major causes of

damage to aquatic animals. With that being said having the proper water levels are
critical to sustaining the aquatic life and plant life that lives there. With the water
overflowing it can flood all of the land and a abundance of plants that reside there killing
plant life, and even some animals that needs to go to the surface for oxygen. With little
to no water the fish and plants can die not getting any oxygen.
A solution to correcting this problem would be to make build routes to distribute
the water out as evenly as possible. This means that water levels would not fluctuate
and could stay the same for life to grow on and never have a dry period. The creation of
these routes could be built onto dams and reservoirs to make a pathway that is built to
make sure neither droughts nor flooding will occur. In creating this route, plants and fish
can get the oxygen, nutrients, and food they need to survive. Migrating fish would be
able to swim freely through this built in route catering to all needs from commercial
fishing to vegetation , which is vital to everyday human life.
Pollution and run-off from different places that have pesticides and chemicals are
big problems when it comes to flooding. Many farmers have a runoff pipe where they
drain feces and other things with toxic chemicals in it. There are different kinds of
pollution: airborne, water, acid rain, and soil. All of these different ways can kill an \entire
species in ways like water contamination through the ground with metals that are toxic

like mercury. Eutrophication occurs in these contaminated bodies of water taking the
oxygen and nutrients from the water in these aquatic communities.
One method that could be applied to solve this problem is to stop the dumping
waste with toxic chemicals into these bodies of water. I propose creating a big tank that
can trap the bad chemicals and gases, through a transformation system, which would
ultimately cleans the hazardous waste. This would mean that the tank would be reusing
the polluted water so nothing goes to waste.The clean and nutritional water for the
wetland habitat would be fully restored and healthy. Birds who occupy these wet areas
depend on fish for there food supply. By performing this process, the population of clean
water and clean fish will increase.
According to Pond Life, acid rain is made by acid forming particles that may be
injected into the air, snow, ice,and rain. Acid rain has been known to kill off entire bodies
of water but, the burning of fossil fuels and other components contribute to acid rain
forming. vegetation can have some type of decline because it is getting the
contaminated water and not the nutrient water that it needs. That trickles down to the
farmers who use crops and vegetation to live and make money off of. According to
Instant Notes in Ecology, Acid rain changes the ph of soil and lakes while acidification
can also cause toxic metals to be leached from soils and sediments.(1998). The
authors are referring to ph, which is needed to acquire proper growth. Without the right

ph levels, plants nor fish living in these areas can grow to their full stage, and in some
cases it may die.
Some acid rain tips that may be of some assistance is the way we use energy.
With that being said, instead of burning fossil fuels we can recreate renewable energy
sources as in heat powered, wind powered, bioenergy, biofuel, and hydropower. This
would subtract from the major fossil fuel products that we use for energy today and help
with less pollution in these wetlands. Using green technologies would put us in a better
position in preventing acid rain as well trying to go more natural. Using alternative
energy sources would be our best bet in protecting the habitat of these animals that live
among us.
Commercial fishing is used all over the world to sell to various distributors. The
fish are caught, sold, and consumed, emphasizing the importance that the fish be
healthy and on the right growth track. Migrating fish also are apart of the commercial
fish zone seeking rare fish that come around seasonally. Hazardous waste decreases
the chances for commercial fishing and fish migration because of the bad reputation we
have had for a long time with using fossil fuels, just throwing things in the water, and
making these runoff pathways end in these bodies of water. Erosion can take place in
the acts of pollution by the process of constructing these dams, creating new land
without fully understanding all of the after effects.

In making these changes, I am positive that these methods i have listed would be
very helpful in restoring these wetlands communities. It would jumpstart a new clean
and efficient way by staying green using renewable sources. The changes of runoff
pathways and toxic chemicals could be re-used for the greater good of the animal and
plant life that lives there. Pollution is a major factor that can be reduced greatly if
everyone can cooperate and spread awareness to companies and major contributors
who work with the burning of fossil fuels everyday.

Mackenzie, Aulay, Ball S., Andy, Virdee R., Sonia 1998. Instant Notes in Ecology.
BIOS Scientific Publishers Limited. UK.
Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology Principles and Conservation. :Cambridge University
Press. New York.