Stream straightening is almost always too much, and can increase farm costs. Channel straightening increase erosion of valuable farmland, worsens gully erosion in bottomland fields and lowers groundwater levels. Such events can cause water supply problems during droughts, create problems for upstream and downstream neighbors and ruin good fishing spots. The new channel has a steeper slope because water makes the same elevation drop over a shorter distance. After straightening the stream, the stream must adjust to these abrupt elevation changes.
Water begins to flow faster causing the banks and bottom to erode.
The stream bottom erodes upstream while deposition occurs downstream. As a result, streamside landowners are usually faced with more problems than they started with. The faster moving water of a straightened channel has more force and causes more stream bank and bottom erosion. The stream widens over time as banks erode and valuable farmland and crops can fall into the stream. This soil can be washed downstream and deposited in the stream channel or on adjacent land, resulting in losses to agricultural production.