Dust Control – Soil Stabilization – Erosion Control

Archive for the ‘erosion control’ Category

There are different types of construction dust that is created at the workplace. The type of construction and location of the site will determine what is in the air.

The dryer regions of the country have a problem with particle matter floating in the air whose make up is different than wetter regions where the nuisance dust could be from the saw dust that the building tools create. The cleaning up of the loose debris is the solution for most dust problems that are actually created on the construction site that is directly caused by the construction process. The health hazards of construction site dust could include cement residue, asbestos, mineral fibers with a man made origin and the most common is wood dust.

The reason for the concern is the effects it has on the people working at the site and the surrounding region. When natural sources of dust from plants and animals combine with the airborne particles of the construction site, it could adversely affect the membranes of the occupance.

The US Department of Health and Human Service’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health consider silicosis has a major problem and cause of health problems that has its origins from construction dust . Construction dust control from the particle matter smaller the 10 micrometers or PM10 has to be approached from a different perspective than those that are naturally occurring in our environment

The airborne crystalline silica that originates from the concrete, masonry and rock on the site can become lodged in the membranes and lungs of the respiratory systems of the people on and near the site. Once there, they become hardened and cause permanent damage and even death.

Construction dust control for this problem can be accomplished when the proper precautions are taken along with the right equipment. The blades that are used to cut concrete and other masonry items should be equipped with a water attachment to make the dust to heavy to become airborne. When drilling into rock the same accessory should be used to weigh down the dust and prevent it from becoming airborne.

Cleanup afterwards is just as important. The water that was used to weigh down the dust particles will evaporate over time. Collection and proper disposal is a necessary part of keeping the work site as free as possible of nuisance dust.

Another little thought about source of silica is from the abrasive materials that are used on the construction site. This includes the silica paper and sanding discs that are used to prepare and condition the different surfaces around the site. When these materials are used, the operator should be using a dust mask on themselves to prevent inhalation of the particle matter.

The US Government classifies nuisance dust that is created by the landscape as a natural event under the air pollution laws. This is a contributor to the construction dust problem but not the whole cause. With the proper precautions control of construction dust can minimize the adverse effects in the people on and near the construction site.

To help you with determine specifically what is best for your situation there is a valuable resource with information on this environmental topic at Soil Control International and their informative blog site.

An introduction to the EPA’s effluent limitations guidelines and source performance standards.

Check dams at a construction site are configured for use of chemical flocculant treatment.
Jesse Pritts, EPA

Although streams and rivers naturally carry sediment loads, discharges associated with construction activity can elevate these loads to levels above those in undisturbed watersheds. Discharges from land disturbance can increase the proportion of silt, clay, and colloidal particles in receiving streams because these fine-grained particles may not be managed effectively by conventional erosion and sediment controls that rely on simple settling.

In response to these issues, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated effluent limitations guidelines (ELGs) and new source performance standards for discharges from construction and development (C&D) sites on Dec. 1, 2009. ELGs are technology-based standards for control of wastewater and stormwater discharges from various categories of industry and are not risk-based, so different standards are not set for different receiving waterbodies. ELGs can be numeric standards (i.e., discharge limitations) and/or best management practices (BMPs) and process changes. Many of the C&D ELG requirements are already included in EPA and state construction general permits (CGP) and new requirements will be phased in over the next few years for sites to sample stormwater discharges and comply with a numeric effluent limitation of 280 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU). A sampling requirement will be triggered beginning Aug. 1, 2011, for sites disturbing 20 or more acres at once and beginning Feb. 2, 2014, for sites disturbing 10 acres or more at once.

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Sydney based road tanker manufacturer and rental business, Water Trucks Direct, have made a decision to standardise on Aussie Quik Prime pumps from Australian Pump Industries ’ product range. The company, operating from a facility at McGraths Hill in Sydney make a complete range of water tankers equipped for both dust suppression and water transport.

“We chose the Aussie pumps high pressure pumps because of their big flow, high pressure performance and overall reliability” said Water Trucks Direct Managing Director, Brenden Bastian. “The 5 year warranty offered by Australian Pump is a tremendous bonus” he said.

Water Trucks use both high volume transfer pumps for fast filling in 3”, 4” and 5” sizes. The big volume pumps are either PTO or hydraulic drive with diesel options being available. Smaller tankers in the 10,000 litre range use Aussie 3” self priming gushers that produce flows of up to 1,500 litres per minute. Genuine Japanese Honda petrol engines, one of the major features offered by Australian Pump and Yanmar diesel drives are both used depending on the application and customer’s requirements.

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Faced with increasing rate of ecological problems and threats to the environment, Cross River State government has approached the Federal Government for N23 billion aid to tackle gully erosion and flood menace in the state.

Commissioner for Environment in the State, Dr. Julius Okputu, who disclosed this, said the demand was made through a letter written to that effect by the state governor, Liyel Imoke, recently.

Okputu, who spoke during a media parley with journalists in Calabar on Tuesday, said the environment of the state is plagued by at least 450 erosion sites and flood sites, out of which 250 are very critical.

Okputu said some of the critical erosion and flood sites are Ikot Uduak, Calabar Shore-Lines, Ikot Anwatim, Beebosco and Atimbo.

Okputu said given the seriousness of the situation, the state’s Deputy Governor, Mr. Efiok Cobham, was dispatched to do a presentation before the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC).

The commissioner also disclosed that the state intends to attract at least N30 billion as carbon credit between now and 2012 as it leads the pace in Nigeria in containing carbon emission.

Okputu said the state has started putting structures in place as well as take stock of the biodiversity target to ensure that the amount is attracted to the state.

Okputu said part of the target is to plant at least five million trees annually across the nooks and crannies of the state.

The International Erosion Control Association (IECA) has recently completed an agreement with the Texas Association of Builders (TAB) to be the exclusive provider of TAB’s “SWPPP It or Sweat It” contractor’s stormwater training course. IECA will deliver the “SWPPP It or Sweat It” course online and in a live format. It will also provide training for IECA members who wish to instruct this course.

IECA’s objective in this partnership is to create opportunities to train members of the Texas Association of Builders on erosion, sediment control and stormwater related issues using expertise found within IECA in these fields. Brock Peters, CISEC, IECA’s Technical Vice President, had this to say of the partnership, “The Texas Association of Builders has taken an unprecedented step in recognizing the importance of assisting building industry compliance by partnering with IECA. The TAB “SWPPP It or SWEAT It” stormwater compliance training course is an opportunity for two great associations to combine efforts to meet a common goal. On behalf of IECA, I cannot express enough the excitement of IECA being the exclusive training provider for TAB. As a stormwater contractor and consultant that serves the building industry, I am personally elated.”

More details on IECA’s education programs may be found at www.ieca.org/education

The UK based Flexible Lining Products Ltd is the largest provider of high quality geotextile, geomembrane, geosynthetic, butyl rubber pond liners, greenseal pond liners, and numerous other products. The company targets not only private home owners and professional contractors, but is also one of the premier suppliers of Greenseal and Butyl rubber products and materials to a number of industrial markets including agriculture, landscaping, horticulture, aquatic retails, and more.

The company provides a wide range of premium quality materials and professionally engineered solutions in order to meet its clients’ growing demand for solutions in the fields of slope reinforcement, drainage, erosion control, pavement, ground stabilization, and many more. Flexible Lining Products Ltd offers full technical support for all its products and it also provides its customers with complete design information and support in order to ensure its clients with fully professional and cost effective solution for all practical applications or projects.

Some of the UK based company’s top selling products are the Greenseal pond liners and Greenseal Lake Liners. Grenseal Rubber is the ideal choice for both lake and pond projects as it offers terrific results, and also it is significantly cheaper than the more traditional butyl rubber. All our Greenseal pond liners and Greenseal lake liners are made with EPDM rubber and imported directly from the Trelleborg manufacturing plant located in Sweden.

All Greenseal pond liners have a Lifetime Guarantee that covers any latent manufacturing flaws. Greenseal Rubber is a trade mark of Flexible Lining Products Ltd, the company which first created the brand name Greenseal and introduced it into the UK market over seven years ago. Greenseal Rubber is now widely considered as a superior alternative to all other products, including butyl based products.

For more information and details about the company and its services, please visit the website or use the contact details below: http://www.flexibleliningproducts.co.uk

At the San Francisco Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday at City Hall, coastal advocates from Save The Waves and San Francisco Surfrider Foundation, as well as other local community leaders, argued that the City should not dump boulders on the beach to temporarily protect city infrastructure from erosion and rising sea levels.

Among other commitments to protect the coastal environment and the waves at Ocean Beach, Supervisors Ross Mirkarimi and Sean Elsbernd introduced a resolution that requires the city to limit the scope of its “emergency” repair work by minimizing the placement of boulders on the beach, analyze the use of existing rubble already on the beach to shore up the bluffs and control erosion, and commit all relevant parties to sit down and revisit the long-term solutions to the beach erosion problem.

“Save Sloat!” advocates feel the long-term solution should focus on a managed retreat strategy, including removal of all past structures placed on the beach, restoration of eroded bluffs, prohibition of future hard structures used for erosion control, and the relocation of city infrastructure at risk from rising sea levels.

“While we never advocate the use of hard structures on the beach, we recognize that the City needs to address the immediate threat and are encouraged that they’ve agreed to limit the scope and look at moving existing rock that’s already on the beach to address the short-term problem,” says Dean LaTourrette, executive director of Save The Waves. “More importantly, we’ve convinced the City and others to immediately reinitiate a proactive planning process for a long-term, environmentally and financially beneficial solution, in the face of continued erosion and impending sea level rise.”

On January 15 the City of San Francisco declared a state of emergency at the Great Highway south of Sloat Boulevard to protect roadway and other infrastructure falling onto the beach due to large storms and rising sea levels. The city proposed the placement of large boulder structures on the beach to protect eroding areas, but local residents, surfers and coastal advocates pushed for a more environmentally friendly solution based on long-term recommendations submitted years ago by the Ocean Beach Task Force.

The mighty Brahmaputra has wiped out nearly 4,000 square kilometres of area at a rate of 80 square kilometres per year, destroying more than 2500 villages and affecting more than five million people in Assam.

Assam’s Water Resources Department has identified 25 vulnerable and very severe erosion-prone sites and estimated that the Assam valley portion of the Brahmaputra has lost approximately 7.4 per cent of its land area due to river bank erosion and channel migration.

Experts from Assam and the USA, who have formed a joint committee, christened ‘The Committee for Developing Mitigation Strategies for Brahmaputra River Basin Flood and Erosion Problem’, have come forward with a set of short and long term measures to address the problem and develop cost-effective solutions.

The experts have pointed out that the key factors in causing the river extremely unstable at many reaches are ‘aggradation’ (raising of the river bed due to sediment deposition), intense ‘braiding’ and large water discharge.

They pointed out that till now both short and long term measures to tackle the erosion problem had been done only on a piecemeal basis during emergency situations depending on availability of funds.

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Granite Environmental, Inc. proudly introduces the entre into its new market field “industrial supply and material handling”. Online visitors and current customers will find an industrial material handling product variety of bins, cabinets, carts, casters, containers, conveyors, hoppers, lifts, pallets, safety equipment, shipping supplies, and many more on the web stores www.industrial-supply-companies.com and www.metal-storagecabinet.com.

Granite Environmental, Inc. (GEI) is a leading international contract manufacturer in providing cost effective, field tested and proven environmental & BMP products, and portable tanks.

The main product lines are water pollution and erosion control. Including: turbidity curtains, silt barriers, debris booms, trash booms, oil booms, coir logs, coir blocks, geotextile liners, dewatering bags, and geotextile tubes, to only name a few. The company also offers solutions for oil spill cleanup, spill containment, and bulk liquid storage. GEI serves in the following markets: North and South America, Canada, Caribbean, Europe, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and South Africa.

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Whether establishing a completely new lawn or making repairs to an existing area, proper planning and preparation is needed. The question of whether to seed the area or lay sod can be answered by addressing the pros and cons of each of the applications.

Time of Planting Grass Seed or Sod

Grass seed is best planted in late summer or early fall, while sod can be planted at any point of the growing season.

Seeds can be planted during the spring, however, but they will have to compete with the weeds that want to take over the lawn.
Expense Factor of Grass Seed and Sod

Grass seed is considerably less expensive than sod to buy. An additional consideration is the transportation issue of moving large amounts of sod to the yard.

Lawn Maintenance

Once grass seed is purchased, the homeowner can spread it when time makes itself available, unlike sod, that should be laid within two days. Once the grass seed or sod is in place, they both need a bit of nuturing to become established.

• A seeded lawn needs water. Soil should be moist to a depth of 4 to 6 inches. Once the seeds germinate, the grass should be watered as needed.
• A seeded lawn should be monitored for weeds that can choke out the grass and take over the area.A good quality sod will have few weeds and will also give quick erosion control.
• Once the sod is laid, it should be kept moist for a few days until it roots firmly in the soil. It takes about 2 to 3 months for sod to become completely established as a lawn.Sod can be aerated in the spring and fall.

Lay of the Land

The best time to seed a lawn is in the fall, so that the grass has time to establish itself before the frost. This is also the time many areas of the country enter a rainy season.

If trying to introduce grass on a slope, the seeds or seedlings may be washed away before the root system develops enough to hold them in place.

Sod, on the other hand, is heavy enough to stay in place, and in extreme rainfall, can be staked to keep it secure. The sod will offer erosion control of the slope.

Types of Grass

Planting from seed allows for a wider selection of grasses. Mixtures of grasses in the lawn have the benefit of raising the likelihood of success throughout the year. If a disease hits one type of grass, the other types will survive and lawn damage is minimal.

Extreme weather can also wreck havoc on the lawn. Adding a summer grass seed that is drought resistant will cover the bare spots that the early grasses might leave in the heat of the season.

The selection of grasses in sod is limited by comparison, and differs according to climate. It is often difficult to find sod that will grow well in a shady area.

What is all comes down to is that grass seed and sod can both develop into a beautiful lawn that the homeowner can take pride in. Choose the one that fits into the basic design, time frame and budget.

Read more at Suite101: Grass Seed or Sod – How to Choose: A Beautiful Lawn Needs Decisive Planning http://landscaping.suite101.com/article.cfm/grass_seed_or_sod_how_to_choose#ixzz0e81YXx4V

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