Progress?

Are we making progress in the use of geosynthetics? Of course we are, but one wonders when a recent specification for an 80 mil HDPE liner required the following: factory fabrication of large panels; 1.5 in. wide welds; welding right to the edge of the overlap; air lance testing of seams; ASTM D1693 stress crack testing; no shear elongation and no peel separation for seam tests; no frequency requirement for destructive seam tests; no requirement for number of seam specimens passing for sample passing; full scale hydrostatic leak test with water loss of < 0.062 in. in 7 days. Obviously, there's still a great need for education and knowledge transfer.