Inspecting Soil stockpiles: they need to be covered when not being used. This helps both with keeping the soil dry in the case of reusing it for backfill and with preventing rain from washing soil into the storm drainage system.
In addition, fugitive dust is prevented from blowing off of the stockpile in windy areas. If the stockpile is to remain in place for longer than a few weeks, black plastic, (at least 6 mil thickness) should be used, as the black plastic is UV (ultraviolet light) stabilized and won’t break down as quickly in sunlight as will clear plastic, which is not UV stabilized.
The plastic needs to completely cover the soil. If soil is exposed at the base of the pile, clean rainwater will run off of the plastic and into the exposed soil causing erosion of the soil and will generate dirty water runoff that can flow into the storm drainage system. In order to keep the plastic in place and prevent it from blowing off in the wind, plenty of sandbags or some other heavy material needs to be used to hold it in place.
As with the plastic itself, sandbag fabric should be UV stabilized if they will be in place for longer than about a month. White sandbags will deteriorate fairly quickly in strong sunlight.