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As summer weather continues, storms and drought each offer challenges for keeping projects in good condition and retaining sediment on site. Practice standards 825, 930 and 954 are a few best management practices that can help keep the soil and sediment on site, and any water landing on the site clean.
👉 Dust control is particularly important when those hot summer days can cause any bare areas to become dusty, wind-blown nightmares. Some of the best methods for reducing dust on work sites keep the ground covered as much as possible. Examples include: utilizing phased work plans to maintain vegetative cover and buffer areas, temporary seeding when areas have been disturbed but will remain inactive for periods of time, or mulching practices. Additional ways to help reduce the potential for wind erosion would be utilizing spray-on adhesives, spray mulch mixtures or, in case of emergencies, a means of tillage to roughen the soil to bring larger clods to the surface before any winds and soil blowing begins. Physical barriers like fences, walls or hay bales may be a good last line of defense to prevent soil blowing off site, made even more effective with proper placement and angling of those barriers to best fit the project. Irrigation or water trucks can be used during dry periods to keep the surface moist and prevent dust being kicked up, especially on highly trafficked areas like haul roads.
👉 Utilizing construction entrances/exits allow for traffic in and out of the project site to be contained to one area that can be stabilized to prevent tracking off of the site. A minimum of 6 inches of aggregate with filter fabric underneath (installed long and wide enough to handle the load of traffic coming in and out of the site) is needed to help keep the surrounding streets clean. Additional vehicle/tire wash stations may be implemented if the rock alone cannot remove a majority of mud or debris, but the wash water from these stations needs to be contained so it doesn’t move that sediment-laden water off site. If dust or sediment does make it’s way off site, street cleaning and clearing of debris is needed for any surrounding paved areas to help keep them in good condition.
👉 For projects that are working with concrete, specialized washout areas are needed to manage any of the waste from the usage on site. Concrete waste can be particularly harmful as concrete wastewater has an extremely high pH, is corrosive and can be toxic to aquatic life. The high pH levels can be long lasting in soils, causing issues for plant growth and soil life can struggle to survive. Keeping washout facilities clean and maintained is critical. Concrete washout water may be considered hazardous waste due to the high pH, research local regulations for proper disposal of any accumulated waste. Placement and maintenance of these areas can help prevent concrete waste or wash to become an issue, several different designs are available. Choosing one that makes washout, maintenance, cleaning and inspection easy and accessible will help prevent any wash water from entering storm drains, waterways or surrounding soils.
With any project, proper planning, phasing and communication on a site can ensure management practices that will be needed are accounted for, plus that the site and adjacent areas are kept clean and pollution free throughout the extent of the project. Links to the featured Standards are below.
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