Dust Control – Soil Stabilization – Erosion Control

Posts Tagged ‘erosion control’

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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The state Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is looking to add a new general permit category to its arsenal of resource protection tools. The new permit is designed to ensure that inland lake shoreline stabilization is done through an environmentally safe process known as bioengineering — using plant products to simulate a natural shoreline while functioning in much the same way as the antiquated and traditional seawall.

According to a recent DEQ public notice, the new category is being proposed to encourage the use of bioengineering to stabilize the shorelines of inland lakes.

"These practices — also known as ’soft’ or ‘green’ engineering — are intended to prevent or control soil erosion and to restore native shorelines while protecting and enhancing fish and wildlife habitat and other nature features associated with the lake," the notice states.
Bioengineering involves the use of a combination of native plants and natural or biodegradable materials to engineer shoreline protection that mimics, to the best extent possible, or enhances the natural shoreline.

"The DEQ has the ability to propose minor project categories that are permit categories that qualify for an expedited or accelerated review process," said John Skubinna, an environmental quality analyst with the DEQ. "The Land and Water Management Division of the DEQ is the agency that reviews and issues permit for construction around the shoreline of a lake. They recently proposed a new minor project category for bioengineering construction. That proposed category went out on public notice for comment in June. That period ended in August and, based on those comments, a decision will be made on whether to create that new category and put it in use later this fall."

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One topic the county commissioners, city Council members and mayors of Green River and Rock Springs will address at a workshop Nov. 6 is turning what remains of the old highway into a serviceable alternate road between the two cities.

The commissioners began planning the workshop last August.

“We do this kind of work every day,” Rock Springs Mayor Tim Kaumo said. “If we all come together, we can come up with a product that will meet the needs of our community.”

Opinions on how this might be accomplished vary. County Engineer John Radosevich envisions a crushed base surface, with a magnesium chloride treatment for dust control two or three times a year, depending on volume of use. Kaumo thinks milled up asphalt would work better.

This is the type of project SCI thrives on, by utilizing the soils that are native to the area we would be able to transform what is considered an unusable road into a very usable and manageable road for a fraction of the cost they are looking at spending. By the time this is published here we will have contacted the public workers regarding their options. dust Control is just another part of the benefit to using Top-Seal

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Denver, Colo. - The International Erosion Control Association’s membership voted to re-elect Sandy Mathews and Brock Peters, CISEC to the 2010 Board of Directors. Joining Mathews and Peters to the 2010 Board of Directors is new board member Charles Riling, Jr.

Riling will begin his term in February alongside fellow Board members Mike Chase, CPESC, CPSWQ, CESSWI, Julie Etra, CPESC, Ron Faucher, CPESC, Philip Handley, REM, CPESC, Lee Johnson, CPESC, Sandy Mathews, Rick Morse, CPESC, CPSS, CEnvP, Brock Peters, CISEC, and Tom Williams, CPESC.

Sandy Mathews, is a Senior Scientist leading the Oakland, CA office of Larry Walker Associates.  Sandy joined IECA in 1996 and was recruited and elected to the Western Chapter Board in 2000. Mathews served two terms as Western Chapter Secretary and one as President prior to joining International Erosion Control Association’s Board of Directors in 2008.

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Now i can see the residents point of view as well as Mr. White’s. It takes time to complete projects like this and staging is part of the game. You don’t redo you dust control every day. The people have a right to clean air and the builder has the obligation to keep it that way. Bu some times we each have to think of the others situation. I guess if he has started with a dust control product like Top-Seal from the very start he would have been in better shape. I can promise you it would have been less than 10k per day.

The state’s Department of Ecology issued a violations notice and order to developer Calvin White for not taking care of dust control problems at two East Wenatchee subdivisions he has been in the process of developing since 2006.

The notice of violations and order, dated Sept. 23, indicates White could face a $10,000 civil penalty each day for each violation if he does not take corrective action.

White has 30 days to appeal the corrective order the DOE issued along with the violations notice; but in the past two weeks, he has been busy at Aspen Hills and Calalina Crest subdivisions north of East Wenatchee. He put in a road, leveled a mountainous pile of dirt and hydroseeded the two properties with an erosion-control seed mix.

Susan Billings, DOE’s section manager for the Central Regional Air Quality Section out of Yakima, said the department has received steady complaints from neighbors of the two subdivision sites.

The notice said neighbors provided detailed reports about ongoing impacts to their health and welfare, damage to their property and inability to enjoy their residences indoors or outside.

Dave Hulligan, whose duplex was situated next to a nearly 60-foot-high pile of soil on White’s land until White leveled it Thursday, said, “It’s almost like living in a sandstorm.”

He said if his garage door is open for even a few minutes, the fine particulate fills up his tool cases.

“My mom, who is staying with me, has asthma, and at times it is impossible for her to breathe,” Hulligan said.

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Bad weather may delay completion of Freeport’s landfill closure

A recent spell of rainy weather may derail efforts to complete Freeport’s landfill project prior to the arrival of winter.

Sue Grans, spokesperson for William Charles Construction, said Wednesday the contractor remains optimistic about finishing the project this fall. However, Grans acknowledged recent weather has put the project’s completion in jeopardy.

“We feel comfortable that we are on schedule,” Grans said. “But the rain has not helped and the days are getting shorter.”

William Charles Construction is the project’s primary contractor. However, the closure effort includes the City of Freeport, engineering firm Fehr-Graham & Associates, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Ben Bushman, project manager for Fehr-Graham, said Thursday he expects the majority of the landfill’s cover system to be completed this fall. However, contractors may struggle to establish the necessary “grass cover.”

“All of the earth moving will be complete this fall,” Bushman said. “Everything else is weather dependent, primarily the seeding.”

The vegetation, Bushman explained, serves more than an aesthetic purpose.

“If we cannot get adequate grass cover, we will run the risk of erosion, mainly due to the spring thaw,” he said.

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