Improved Water Quality

Plants and soils in wetlands play a significant role in purifying water, removing high levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, and in some cases, removing toxic chemicals. Some wetland plants have been found to accumulate heavy metals in their tissues at 100,000 times the concentration in the surrounding water.

A couple of examples reveal the tremendous value of wetlands as water purifiers:

• New York City recently avoided spending $3.8 billion on new wastewater treatment plants (with $700 million annual operating costs) by investing 1.5 billion in conserving land around the reservoirs in upstate New York as well as instituting other water quality protective measures.
  
  
• A Florida cypress swamp can remove 98 percent of all nitrogen and 97 percent of all phosphorus entering the wetland from wastewater before it enters the groundwater supply.
  
  
• Hypoxia Action Plan calls for wetland restoration as the most cost effective means if dealing with the hypoxia issue in the Gulf of Mexico. The hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico reached record size this year, 8,006 square miles, the size of Massachusetts. The oxygen-depleted waters in this area are harmful for bottom dwelling fish, crustaceans and other sea creatures.

More Wetland Benefits

• Waterfowl Habitat
  
• Recreation
  
• Flood Storage
  
• Groundwater Recharge
  
• Improved Water Quality
  
• Fish Habitat
  
• Biodiversity