Soil Processes and Water Quality
R. Lal, B.A. Stewart
Abstract
Maintaining high quality of fresh water resources is important for health of human population, domestic livestock, and wildlife. Intensive land use, with a little or no fallow period for soil restoration, can set in motion several soil degradative processes with adverse impact on water quality. Therefore, decrease in total biomass, activity and species diversity of soil fauna can have serious adverse impact on water quality. Leaching, transport of chemicals from surface into the sub-soil with percolating water, is a major process affecting water quality. The quality of water is affected because of disruptions in cycles of C and principal plant nutrients, and transport of sediments and dissolved chemicals to ground water, rivers and lakes. In addition, shifting cultivation, based on slash and burn techniques, can have severe adverse impact on water quality when it is practiced on marginal lands and in ecologically sensitive eco-regions.