More specifically, soil quality is the capacity of a specific kind of soil to function, within natural or managed ecosystem boundaries, to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain or enhance water and air quality, and support human health and habitation. People have different ideas of what a quality soil is. Healthy soil gives us clean air and water, bountiful crops and forests, productive rangeland, diverse wildlife, and beautiful landscapes.
Soil helps control where rain, snowmelt, and irrigation water goes.
Water and dissolved solutes flow over the land or into and through the soil. Sustaining plant and animal life. The diversity and productivity of living things depends on soil. Filtering potential pollutants. The minerals and microbes in soil are responsible for filtering, buffering, degrading, immobilizing, and detoxifying organic and inorganic materials, including industrial and municipal by-products and atmospheric deposits.