The Offsite Impact of Soil Erosion on the Water Treatment Industry

past five decades of soil conservation effort in the United States have been guided by an abiding concern with maintaining the productivity of agricultural land for future generations. It is now being argued that not only are the effects of soil erosion on agricultural productivity important to consider in policy formation, but the off-site effects are important as well. new perspective is due in large degree to the emergence of new data and techniques that allow quantification of the extent and location of erosion, the effect of soil loss on agricultural productivity, and the offfarm costs associated with materials that enter waterways in agricultural runoff. As stated in a recent assessment of soil conservation policy in the United States (AAEA 1986) The most fundamental change in perspective will come if additional research confirms the still incom-