You just built a bioswale and it needs to be operational very soon. The plans and specifications call for hydroseed. Want to reduce your risk of problems? How about using sod and temporary irrigation instead?
November 25, 2011
Bioswale Stabilized With Sod, Bonded Fiber Matrix and Irrigation
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November 10, 2020
What’s Wrong with this Photo?
What’s wrong with this photo? On first glance, it looks like a peaceful pathway across a stormwater swale. In reality, it is two compost socks that need to be overlapped and one burlap silt fence that needs maintenance.
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October 20, 2020
Steel Plates Trackout
Trackout happens when you back trucks off of the steel plates onto dirt to unload materials. The plan was for trucks to stay on plates, back to the end and dump. The excavator was to move the materials around the site. There is no tire wash on this project as there isn’t room, so staying on the plates is required and necessary. The trackout is onto the neighbors parking lot, our only site access, and they don’t appreciate dirt ending up in their stormwater swale when the rains come.
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October 15, 2020
Sediment Trackout Happens
Sediment trackout happens when you back trucks off of the steel plates onto dirt to unload materials. The plan was for trucks to stay on plates, back to the end and dump.
The excavator was to move the materials around the site. There is no tire wash on this project as there isn’t room, so staying on the plates is required and necessary. The trackout is onto the neighbors parking lot, our only site access, and they don’t appreciate dirt ending up in their stormwater swale when the rains come.
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October 8, 2020
Planning Ahead
Planning ahead requires a different mindset to prevent problems rather than react when they happen.
On this project we are using the neighboring property for staging; all of the runoff drains into their constructed stormwater treatment swale.
Their stormwater discharges are regulated and any non-compliance issues could be attributed to the contractor’s use of this area.
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September 21, 2020
Steel Plate Construction Access
This is a steel plate construction access that we built across a live stormwater swale. We have installed compost socks along the edge to keep construction runoff out of the swale.
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August 24, 2020
Construction Access with Steel Plates
We built a construction access with steel plates across this stormwater swale. Then we laid compost socks and straw wattles along side of the eco blocks placed along the edges.
The adjacent parking lot drains into the swale and must be protected from dirty construction stormwater discharges.
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August 17, 2020
Adaptive Management-Perimeter BMPs
This video gives an example of adaptive management for perimeter erosion control BMPs.
Transcript:
This is our staging area for our project we are going to be starting up back over in here on the other side of a stormwater swale. We have to access the site through another owner’s property and they have allowed us to have this staging area.
My plan was to have an extruded asphalt curb along this edge to take all the stormwater running off the parking lot coming this way and keep it out of the staging area, but that’s going to concentrate all the water from back up to the left into one location there down by the equipment.
Another BMP we’re using is compost socks on the edge of the swale to take any sheet flow from the staging area here and spread it out before it goes into the swale. Here are the compost socks and a bunch more here waiting for installation.
The idea of concentrating all the water and dumping it into the swale in one spot down here, maybe its better with the compost sock to just let everything just sheet flow and spread out against the sock and then dribble in, and actually in this area its not going right into the swale its going into some landscape across the pathway and then into the swale so maybe it’s a combination.
Actually, come to think of it, maybe on this end of the project no curbing and back over in here we put curbing in. This is all pretty protected so you know, this is adaptive management, this is how these things go you do the erosion plan write it up on a plan sheet and then you walk the site and see how things are in reality and should be willing to change.
Okay from here now from this pathway over we are going right into the swale so maybe we start the curbing maybe off this island. You see were gong into the swale now and this is going to be the most intensively used area for staging so maybe we start with a short, extruded asphalt curb over there and let everything else sheetflow back in here.
Okay got to think on this.
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April 6, 2020
Silt Fence and Trackout Fail
I was just minding my own business last Friday, driving from Fred Meyer to the UPS store and passed this project. I told my wife I have to get a photo; she says okay since she knows me and my habit of stopping to take TESC photos.
I made a u -turn at the Wal Mart, drove back a block and stopped in the middle of the street to get this shot.
There is so much wrong here, where do I start? Clearly, dirt is tracked off of the project in the background, as you can see the sediment build up in the curb line. Someone told someone to put something in the swale to keep dirt out, then someone else installed this silt fence.
First off, silt fence needs to be trenched in and this just has a few rocks placed on the flap.
Second, they probably couldn’t trench this in anyway without tearing up the drainage swale.
Third, only two of the three curb cuts are backed by the silt fence.
Fourth, silt fence is a barrier, not a filter, and with the volume of water draining off the asphalt during a rain event, dirty water would just blow around and under the silt fence.
Conclusion, silt fence is never used in a water flow situation; it is only to contain eroded sediment from a sloped area. A better BMP here is a compost berm or something similar that would allow some water to pass but filter some sediment. Sand bags would work to keep everything out of the swale but then the dirty water would bypass to the next catch basin, which probably has a catch basin insert, which would collect sand and such but would not do anything for turbidity. So, what is the best BMP? Stop the !@#$ ing trackout in the first place!
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June 16, 2016
Paying for TESC
The Best Way to Measure and Pay for TESC in Public Works Contracts
It is a big mistake to make temporary erosion and sediment an “incidental” item in a public works contract. Anything that can be measured should be and set up as a Unit Price item. Planning and Implementation can be lump sum but measurement and payment must be clearly specified. Force Account is set up for unforeseen conditions; the amount is set by the owner so that everyone bids the same number. Make clear at the pre-bid meeting that the Lump Sum bid for planning and implementation covers lots of stuff and they need to bid accordingly. Here is an example of the best way to pay: (more…)
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