The environmental impact of urban sprawl on wetlands

Urban sprawl converts wetlands into developed land for housing and infrastructure, reducing their size and function, with 50% of U.S. wetlands lost since the 1800s, per EPA.

Urban sprawl increases runoff with pollutants like nitrogen from fertilizers, degrading wetland water quality, per a 2020 USGS study.

Wetlands act as natural water filters, but urban sprawl reduces their ability to purify water by filling or draining them, per National Geographic.

Amphibians, like frogs, rely on wetlands for breeding; urban sprawl destroys these habitats, reducing populations, per a 2019 IUCN report.

Wetlands absorb floodwater, but urban sprawl replaces them with impermeable surfaces, increasing flood risks, per FEMA’s 2021 flood data.

Drained wetlands release less methane, a greenhouse gas, as their anaerobic conditions vanish, but this increases CO2 emissions, per a 2022 Nature study.

Urban sprawl replaces native wetland plants, like cattails, with invasive species or pavement, reducing biodiversity, per EPA’s wetland reports.

Wetlands store carbon in soils, but urban sprawl destroys them, releasing stored carbon and reducing sequestration, per a 2023 IPCC report.

Wetland loss increases waterborne diseases like cholera by reducing natural filtration, allowing contaminants to spread, per WHO’s 2021 report.

Wetlands provide flood protection worth billions annually; urban sprawl destroys this, increasing flood damage costs, per a 2020 NOAA study.