Perhaps with that in mind, the Clinton administration has just announced new proposed rules which will provide additional protection to the nation's wetlands. Wetlands are environmentally sensitive areas. Up until thirty years ago, nobody really cared about wetlands and it was completely commonplace to fill them at will in order develop property. Then, ecologists learned that wetlands serve important conservation functions. They tend to act as underground water recharge areas for rain water and they also filter runoff off, acting as a natural cleanser.
Wetlands also prevent flooding.
Many parts of this country in which wetlands have been excessively filled experience heavy amounts of flooding. Now, in order to address this problem, drainage ditches and other runoff basins have been erected to curtail runoff issues. According to the EPA, over half of the nation's wetlands have been destroyed since the 1700s. Some states have lost more than 80 percent of their original wetlands. The new wetlands rules are designed to make it more difficult to fill the remaining wetlands.