Stream buffers are vegetated areas along and adjacent to streams where clearing, building structures, and other activities are prohibited to protect stream water quality. An effective stream buffer begins at the top of the stream bank and extends at least 50 feet on either side. There are a multitude of benefits a stream buffer offers including reducing floods, filtering pollutants, trapping sediment, and stabilizing streambanks, as well as providing shade, habitat, and nutrition for fish and other aquatic organisms.
Properties with streams have an important responsibility to protect stream health, but often homeowners prevent the establishment of a stream buffer by extending their lawn to the edge of the stream. This allows for pesticides, fertilizers, pet waste, and sediment to runoff from the property directly in the stream. This also causes the streambank to erode because the grass roots are not strong enough to protect from erosion each time it rains.
Consistently removing trash and debris from streams is an easy way to increase the health of streams that may flow through your property. Community clean up events, such as the annual Rivers Alive Clean Up held in September, that beautify streams through removing litter and trash from the stream are important. Natural debris, however, such as trees and limbs, provide vital habitat for stream fauna and should not be removed like other litter.
Stream buffers are often an overlooked asset to stream health, but with your help, we can maintain and improve buffer protection in Roswell and promote a healthy and lasting watershed.
For more information visit the Georgia Environmental Protection Division.