If the watershed has been deforested, there is less vegetation to shade the soil and to reduce the erosive force of the rain. Water runs swiftly off the mountains taking precious topsoil with it. The water supply dries up in summer because there is no longer the natural mechanism of storage and slow release. Drinking water is clouded with silt, and contaminated with parasites from the waste of humans and livestock that live or work in the watershed. Runoff is immediate because the watershed has lost the ability to store water.
Rivers are thick with mud, and flooding occurs frequently and fiercely.
In the Bay Islands off the Caribbean coast, soil from deforested hillsides is washed into the sea where it slowly chokes the beautiful coral reefs that bring the country international acclaim. Siltation poses a similar problem for the hydroelectric power industry, which provides electricity to nearly all of Honduras as well as to many other Central American countries. Extensive deforestation has also had an effect on the country's climate. Lack of shade causes temperatures to rise and the dry season to become longer. The Choluteca and Valle regions on the south coast, for example, have become hotter, drier, and less productive as a result of deforestation.