Land Pollution
This chapter focuses on how land can be harmed by human activities, such as construction, agriculture, and transportation. These and other human activities lead to the release of chemical contaminants, but they also result in landscape damage, such as soil erosion, habitat destruction, and loss of resources, such as wetlands and coastal ecosystems. Plans must include measures to complement the natural and cultural environment and to avoid destruction or adverse alteration of the land. This means that good practice should always consider approaches to minimize impacts of construction, development, and facility operation on the surrounding watershed, by preventing water pollution and actions that disrupt natural drainage patterns. In addition, land use planning must directly address habitat destruction by recommending ways that any development conserve land that serves as habitat for native flora and fauna, both on- and off-site, and directly and indirectly. Another special consideration for land development is the presence of threatened or endangered species and the potential that their habitats may be affected by developing a site. Wasting land by losing it through erosion, diminishing its beneficial uses, and contaminating it is wholly unacceptable. Protecting land relies on sound application of not only the physical and natural sciences but also the social sciences. Where people choose to live is based on environmental quality and sociological and psychological factors. Land use planners, engineers, and waste managers each have vital roles in preventing and addressing land pollution.
