Dust Control – Soil Stabilization – Erosion Control

Archive for the ‘soil stabilization’ Category

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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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

A conservation talk on managing riparian areas alongside lakes and waterways turned into a public forum on saving the Dead Horse Creek.

The question and answer session following the formal presentations January 14 focused almost entirely on the concerns of Morden landowners adjacent to the creek.

Residents who see areas of the creek bank steadily being eroded and collapsing, and taking trees and property with it, were looking for an idea of what’s being done and what more can be done.

“It’s going to need a lot of regeneration,” commented one landowner at the meeting sponsored by the regional arm of Christian conservation group A Rocha Canada.

The formal part of the meeting began with Marilena Kowalchuk of the Manitoba Habitat Heritage Corporation explaining the basics of riparian areas, and Cliff Greenfield of the Pembina Valley Conservation District speaking on the Dead Horse Creek.

One landowner then addressed the meeting with a concern about the difficulty in finding more comprehensive information on what can be done to address issues along the creek. He suggested more action is needed to not only stabilize the creek bank but also make it more attractive.

Another landowner suggested erosion has already been allowed to progress too far in places, noting a 10 foot drop on the creek bank near her property which she fears may soon take a mature 65 foot tree from her yard.

The residents collectively suggested they needed more information on such areas as what varieties of plants would work best for strengthening the bank.

“I don’t know if it’s really that well known what works and what doesn’t,” noted Greenfield. “We hope to do trial projects and hopefully find out more.”

Another resident suggested the town needed to look at working with landowners on an individual basis to help better address each one’s particular circumstances and locations.

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At hand are more than a few ways to implement erosion control designed for landscaping, gardening and land management. Erosion control may help retain the highly valued top soil plus help protect downward streams from becoming clogged with dirt. One means is to apply vegetation on slopes that could see substantial amounts of runoff. This vegetation would need to have deep wandering roots that would stick the top soil in place during times of violent rain. In order to get the plant life on track we have to utilize a product that may give us stabilized soil from the beginning. That is key because we don’t desire our soils to merely rinse away when the precipitation comes, taking the plant life down with it.

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Received for publication January 31, 2009. Magnesium chloride (MgCl2)-based dust suppression products are commonly used throughout western United States on nonpaved roads for dust suppression  and road stabilization by federal, state, and county transportation agencies.

The environmental implications of annually applying these products throughout spring and summer months on adjacent stream chemistry are not known. Sixteen streams were monitored biweekly for 1 to 2 yr in two Colorado counties for a suite of water quality variables up and downstream of nonpaved roads treated with MgCl2–based dust suppression products.

Eight of 16 streams had significantly higher downstream than upstream concentrations of chloride or magnesium over the entire monitoring period (p  0.05). Mean downstream chloride concentrations ranged from 0.17 to 36.2 mg/L and magnesium concentrations ranged from 1.06 to 12.8 mg/L. Several other ions and compounds, including those commonly found in dust suppression products such as sodium, calcium, and sulfate, were also significantly higher downstream at some sites.

Downstream electrical conductivity (EC), chloride and magnesium concentrations were positively correlated with road surface area draining water toward the stream and yearly amount of MgCl2 applied (R2 = 0.75, 0.51 and 0.49, respectively), indicating that road managers can limit the amount of product entering roadside streams by assessing drainage characteristics and application rates in best management practices. Although MgCl2–based dust suppressants did move into some roadside streams, the concentrations detected were below those reported to adversely affect fresh water aquatic organisms, but the ultimate fate of these ions in Colorado waterbodies are not known.

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But Al Gore Lied and the data was manipulated…

Climate change represents a greater threat to mining operations than many realize, and most fail to plan or implement any preventative measures, according to Jason Prno, president of the North Bay-based Trailhead Consulting.

"Most mining infrastructure is not designed for a changing climate," says Prno, who researched the threat the weather could pose to the industry in a study for the David Suzuki Foundation.

"The subject often takes a backseat to economic issues, legislation and as such, there tends to be little adaptive planning in place."
Speaking to attendees of the 2009 Sudbury Restoration Workshop held at Laurentian University on Oct. 28, Prno outlined how the expected temperature increases have already begun to impact the mining industry.

As an example, he points to the Rio Tinto/Harry Winson Diavik diamond mine in the Northwest Territories, where 2006 stood as the warmest winter on record. The elevated temperatures reduced the availability of the ice road from roughly 70 days to 42, forcing officials to fly in much more freight than usual. This resulted in additional costs of $11.3 million just for fuel transportation, presenting "a real wake-up call" for the industry, says Prno.
Similarly costly scenarios are being projected for other parts of the country.

Ontario can expect to see elevated temperatures that could lead to drier summers, affecting a mine’s water intake, and potentially exposing raw tailings to the elements. The scarcity of water could also affect activities such as dust suppression  and the composition of mine drainage.

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SAYBROOK TOWNSHIP — Wet weather is starting to muck things up on Wade Avenue.

The 80-acre site of the Ashtabula Area City School District’s new elementary-school campus needs to be dried out daily as construction equipment works on the property, said Ben Pintabona, construction manager for Scaparotti Co.

“The property is in great shape, but the nature of the soil is when it gets wet, it gets gooey,” he said. “We need to dry that site out before we can build it up.”

The school district’s superintendent, Joseph Donatone, and Pintabona asked the school board at Wednesday night’s work session to give them the authority to spend up to $500,000 to stabilize the soil at the site. Pintabona said $500,000 was not an estimate but rather a line of credit, so to speak. While the construction crews work on the site every day, they may find that they need to mix the soil with cement.

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