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Sedimentation is a process whereby eroded particles, primarily soil material, are washed down-gradient into waterbodies such as Long Point Bay. The major sources of sediment to Long Point Bay are from Lake Erie via littoral drift and from the Big Creek watershed via Big Creek. While these erosion and sedimentation processes occur naturally, rates of erosion and deposition into the Bay through Big Creek can be influenced quite substantially by human activities. Increased sedimentation has the potential to be detrimental to receiving waters in several ways. It can increase water turbidity, influence the composition of wetland sediments, and ultimately affect the rate of wetland succession. Most importantly, contaminants and nutrients tend to attach to and be transported by sediments; this can have a profound effect on water quality.
Old Norfolk County has retained a higher proportion of riparian vegetation than many other regions of southern Ontario, and very few farmers plough their fields in the fall, a practice that results in high rates of soil erosion. Tobacco farming, which is the most prevalent farming practice in the Big Creek watershed, requires a winter cover crop, and this also decreases rates of soil erosion. The Long Point Region Conservation Authority and the Ministry of Natural Resources have been precedent-setting in their implementation of erosion control programs. Consequently, while farming is the major cause of increased sedimentation in the Big Creek watershed, retention of large amounts of riparian forest, combined with responsible farming practices and ambitious erosion control programs, have resulted in Big Creek having a lower sediment load than many other Lake Erie tributaries.