Containment

The Lehigh Canal Towpath in Canal Park in Allentown, Pennsylvania has reopened to the public after being closed for repairs since an October 6 breach. A 75-foot-long stacked stone embankment was constructed to assure long-term stabilization of the riverbank. New clay was placed and compacted to restore the towpath and canal channel to its historic dimensions, and a geosynthetic clay liner was installed to ensure that the repair remains permanently watertight. Learn more here.;

Nearly 11 months after shutting down, the odor-producing A & L landfill on state Route 45 in Ohio is still not capped. Residents are now apparently concerned about the capping plan. In fact, the area newspaper, the Review, reports that residents want only soil and grass…but not a protective, synthetic liner that would provide real (and modern) containment. It's a conundrum for the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, which is trying to convince the public of better practices. Learn more here.;

Additional information on the A&L Landfill problem in Lisbon, Ohio. Learn more here.;

Trelleborg AB has signed three revolving credit facilities in a total amount of EUR 291 M (corresponding to some SEK 3,000 M) with four first-rate commercial banks. The facilities are partially guaranteed by the Swedish Export Guarantee Authority. A portion of EUR 241 M of the facilities has a tenor of 7 years, whilst the remaining portion amounting to EUR 50 M has a tenor of 5 years.

Updating flood maps in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, FEMA announced in 2007 that the five Metro East levees protecting the area since the 1940s were no longer adequate. Repairing the levees, county officials were told, would cost $120 million to $180 million. To meet the price tag, officials in Madison, Monroe and St. Clair counties set up an agency - the Southwestern Illinois Flood Prevention District Council - and a new sales tax to fund the project. But two years later, the estimates have soared. According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the price tag could range from $300 million to $500 million. Learn more here.;

A section of the Lehigh River towpath in Allentown that had been closed since October has reopened, just in time for joggers, bikers and outdoors aficionados to enjoy Canal Park for the holidays. A breach in the canal forced city officials to close part of the towpath while repairs were made. New clay was added to the towpath and canal channel and a synthetic liner was installed to make the fix watertight. Learn more here.;

A recently completed study by Wisconsin's Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection and the Department of Natural Resources has increased the understanding of air emissions and odors on larger-sized livestock farms, and lays the groundwork for future studies in this important area. Among the study's recommendations: "Installation of new manure storage lagoons would benefit greatly from an impermeable cover which can reduce odors by 100 percent" and "Existing manure storage lagoons would benefit from a permeable cover which can reduce odor by about 70 percent."

The U.S. dairy industry has committed to work with the Agriculture Department to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent before 2020 through the expanded use of technology that converts manure into energy. It's estimated that only 2% of dairies in the United States efficiently and profitably use energy-conversion technologies, such as lined and covered manure lagoons. There are approximately 56,000 dairies in the US. Learn more here.;

Omya Inc. has received a draft certification to dispose of its chemically tainted calcium carbonate waste in a lined facility in Vermont. The $1.5 million lined tailings management facility dovetails with the company's $10 million dewatering plant. The plant removes 85 percent to 90 percent of the water from the waste, which is pumped back into the plant for reuse. The draft certification requires a single, high-density polyethylene double liner and leachate collection system. Learn more here.;

Governor Edward G. Rendell today announced the commonwealth is investing $5 million in federal recovery money in eight innovative alternative energy projects that use biological materials such as sewage, animal and food processing waste to generate enough energy to power more than 80,000 homes.

The million dollar question facing the city of Sebeka in regard to the dike breach at the wastewater treatment plant, according to the city engineer, is what standards they will be held to by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA).  The treatment plant was built nearly 32 years ago under different MPCA regulations than those in effect today. If the MPCA requires a pond improvement project, the dollar amount escalates substantially. Rebuilding the one pond with a PVC liner could cost from $500,000 to $700,000, provided the work did not require moving a lot of dirt. If it did, the cost could escalate to a million dollars or more for the one pond. Learn more here.;

The December 2009 issue of Waste Age is available online. Learn more here.;

Shri Satyaprakash Singh, a regional manager (Polymer Business unit) at Reliance Industries Ltd., delivered an address on "Geosynthetics: Opportunities Ahead" during the mid-November Texcellence 2009 event in Ahmedabad, India. His presentation from the event is available for download to registered users of India-based textile website Fibre2Fashion. Learn more here. Learn more here.;

ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has revised (with a designation change) D6072/6072M, "Standard Practice for Obtaining Samples of Geosynthetic Clay Liners." This practice provides a procedure by which samples of GCL should be obtained for laboratory testing. The practice applies to materials obtained prior to installation (either at a job site or at a production facility) or exhumed material after installation. Learn more. Learn more here.;

ASTM Committee D18 on Soil and Rock has issued a work item for a revision to D7208, "Standard Test Method for Determination of Temporary Ditch Check Performance in Protecting Earthen Channels from Stormwater-Induced Erosion - 06." The work item id is WK26724. Learn more here.;

The International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) has published its fifth edition of "Recommended Descriptions of Geosynthetics Functions, Geosynthetics Terminology, Mathematical and Graphical Symbols." The project provides IGS members and users of geosynthetics everywhere a current base of information for an ever-changing array of products, applications and terminology. Download a copy in PDF today. Learn more here.;

Leakage from Alaska Electric Light & Power Co.'s Bart Lake Dam is plaguing the Lake Dorothy Hydroelectric Project. Bart Lake is part of the Lake Dorothy Hydroelectric Project, which provides about 20 percent of Juneau's power. Learn more here.;

At the Geo-Frontiers 2011 conference, there will be a technical session on Concrete Protection Liners co-chaired by Ian D. Peggs (icorp@geosynthetic.com) and Peter Dimaio (peterd@aks.co.za). All those working on tunnels, wastewater treatment basins, process chemical containment, or any other aspect of concrete protection using geomembranes or thicker polymeric sheet products, are invited to submit abstracts through www.geofrontiers11.org before 8 March 2010. Learn more here.;

ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has reapproved standard D4491, "Standard Test Methods for Water Permeability of Geotextiles by Permittivity." Permittivity is an indicator of the quantity of water that can pass through a geotextile in an isolated condition. Learn more. Learn more here.;

The Belgium-based nonwovens association EDANA and India-based Business Coordination House (BCH) will present a high-level conference and unique business opportunities in support of the expected market growth for filtration across the Indian subcontinent and Asia. FiltrexAsia 2010 will be held 18-19 February 2010 in New Delhi, India. Themes include new filter media technologies, market trends, water treatment, gas filtration and more. Learn more here.;

Permathene's December 2009 Newsletter is now available in PDF. The issues contains a review of conferences and events in 2009, issues raised during the year (such as water infrastructure concerns), an impressive project note with gabions in Sydney, an update on the growing use of gabions in landscape architecture, and baffle curtains in New Zealand. Read the latest from Permathene today. Learn more here.;

Abu Dhabi's Royal Falcon Mining, a wholly owned subsidiary of PAL Group, has announced it has confirmed the presence of very high-grade gold and broad zones of gold-copper-bismuth mineralisation near the Swedish capital, Stockholm. The drilling operation started during August this year near the historical mining centre of Falun, which was first mined in around 700 AD, before closing in 1992 after operating for more than 1,400 years. Learn more here.;

Residents along one of central Auckland’s busiest streets are preparing to fight plans that will see it dug up twice in a year. Residents of Curran St are less than impressed by plans to dig up the road to lay a watermain after an $800,000 upgrade in January 2009. That upgrade installed geotextiles for stabilization, but the trench work would have to slice through the cloth, undermining that protection. Learn more here.;

From 8-10 June 2010, the American Public Works Association (APWA) will host a conference on sustainability in public works. The event will take place in Minneapolis, Minnesota (site of the 2005 APWA annual conference). And exhibit hall will be available at the conference hotel (the Hilton Minneapolis) and education sessions will focus on key issues such as low-impact development, measuring sustainable return on investment (ROI), selling sustainability politically, success stories, best practices, and much more. Learn more here.;

WI Environmental LLC, an environmental solution company, has announced it has completed successful testing on acid mine drainage (AMD) and has passed all U.S. EPA tests including the TCLP test for leachability. Its trademarked product XR-88, removes and stabilizes heavy metals from acid mine drainage, including lead, nickel, cadmium, zinc, chromium, hexavalent chromium (Cr(VI)) compounds and arsenic to name a few.