Containment

The Province of British Columbia, Canada, is providing $1.06 million in funding for 12 brownfield sites to support environmental investigations, Agriculture and Lands Minister Steve Thomson has announced. "The Brownfield Renewal Strategy program is focused on encouraging the redevelopment of under-used lands that have potential for community benefit," said Thomson. "The goal is for this funding to support the initial environmental work necessary to return these sites back into productive use…." Read more, including a list of projects, in the release.

The Kennewick Irrigation District (KID) in Washington State has had a number of seepage issues in its earthen canals this year. The Badger East Canal is currently experiencing significant seepage problems. While the earthen canals are designed for it, the Badger East Canal had a geosynthetic liner for water conservation between 1989 and the middle of this year. Rather than replace the liner, which KID felt had reached the end of its service life, the canal was deepened and packed with a bit of clay. The result has been flooded basements and a need to reapproach the canal's management. Learn more here.;

The Barclay's transcript archive, over at the PGA Tour website, includes an interview with veteran golfer Tom Kite and Bob Cupp on designing a golf course over a former industrial site. Kite addresses how the course is different from today's minimalist designs, in that converting a formerly polluted site to a beneficial reuse site requires intensive alteration of the land, including genuine containment measures (ie, geosynthetic caps). Learn more here.;

Milfoil is a dense vegetation the has affected rivers and lakes in the United States for more than 100 years. It is largely a surface problem, depriving water of oxygen and trapping sediments. In the Sandpoint area in the Northwest, milpoint has been a debated topic, with some advocating chemical treatment and others geosynthetic barrier solutions that would smother the milfoil infestation. The use of PVC and road fabric has been advised. Learn more here.;

South Africa-based Cape Business News has published an article about the success of PSV Holdings acquisition of Engineered Linings. PSV, which specialises in pumps, valves and spares, paid R40 million to buy out various shareholders in Engineered Linings. Led by Du Toit Viljoen, Engineered Linings supplies and installs geosynthetic liners. The early 2009 numbers from the business have been very satisfying. Learn more here.;

The seven-mile-long Central Canel in Indianapolis will receive a geosynthetic liner for an eroding portion of it. Veolia Water Indianapolis owns the reservoir, which provides drinking water to 600,000. Additional crushed stone will be installed on the banks to stop erosion. Construction will take place this fall. Learn more here.;

The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI) will offer "Constructing with Fabricated Geomembranes," its popular short course, on 23 October 2009 in Lakewood, Colorado at the Sheraton Denver West Hotel. This course will be presented by many expert speakers from the industry. Course participants are eligible for 6 PDHs. Learn more and view an updated agenda here.

The Irish Times published a story of an eight-year-old, Clodagh McIntyre, who won an award for a drawing she submitted to a fisheries-sponsored coloring contest. McIntyre's drawing depicts fish struggling with lagarosiphon major, an invasive weed that has plagued Irish waters for the past five years. Geotextile matting is being studied as a possible solution to smothering the weed. Learn more here.;

Dewatering part of the lagoon system in the Chesley, Ontario, Canada area with TenCate's Geotube technology is not only cleaning up the lagoon, it's saving the municipality of Arran-Elderslie both time and expense. Six Geotubes have been used, each 100 feet long and 30 feet in circumference. They are capable of holding 38,000 litres of material. GeoTubes have been well-established in Quebec but less utilized in Ontario until now. Many municipalities are looking into them. Learn more here.;

The boundary between the growing cities of Brampton and Caledon in Ontario, Canada is Mayfield Road. It connects major highways, and to keep pace with road capacity needs the area has been undergoing a multi-year Mayfield Road widening project. Two geomembrane-lined stormwater retention ponds are being built to protect nearby wetlands and kettle lakes. Learn more here.;

Starting next season the European and Dutch national champion Hockey Club Bloemendaal will play its home matches on a Triple-T System hockey pitch. After MHC Ede, HC Bloemendaal is the second field hockey club in the Netherlands to have a pitch based on the Triple-T System. This system is entirely focused on optimum player comfort, high ball speed and low friction in both wet and dry conditions. These characteristics, which support the high-grade technical game, were the main reasons for HC Bloemendaal to opt for this system. TenCate supplied the artificial grass fibers. Learn more in the release.

The on-going Toledo Harbor dredging project in Lake Erie may soon get significant federal support. The Great Lakes overall have received increased restoration attention, and the addition of federal money will allow popular and important areas such as around the Toledo Harbor Lighthouse to contain dredged material in geotextile tubes, rather than dump the material in open water. Also, "eco islands" and bird habitats may be created. Read more about this endeavor. Learn more here.;

The organizers of GeoHalifax 2009 (20 - 24 September 2009) have released the conference's latest e-newsletter. (Interested readers can subscribe to the feed via the conference website.) Some of the highlights: registration will continue through the conference; the exhibit hall is sold out; and more than 400 abstracts were submitted. Presenters can use the online submission system for PowerPoint files. GeoHalifax 2009 is hosted by the Canadian Geotechnical Society (CGS) and the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH). Learn more here.;

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) today announced former Vice President Al Gore as the opening keynote speaker for USGBC's annual Greenbuild International Conference & Expo being held 11-13 November 2009, in Phoenix, Arizona. In 2007, Gore was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for his environmental activism. Read more in the release.

The Garrison Dam National Fish Hatchery in North Dakota is currently lining more of its ponds. The expansive site has had a mix of lined and unlined ponds, and over time hatchery personnel have reported significantly higher, healthier yields with lined ponds. When federal funds became available for improving the facility, which is an important link to fish supplies in the Midwest, the hatchery capitalized on the opportunity. Installation work is going on right now. Learn more here.;

Knowing that the geomembrane rolls shipped to and being handled on site are exactly the ones linked to the original quality certificate is a very important issue. Geosynthetics are designed for specific functions, and the various formulations of products makes them specific to certain application uses. Solmax International ensures its project-specified and certified rolls are the ones on site with the use of a product-marking program. It enables project managers and engineers to link every roll to its quality certificate. Learn more here. Learn more here.;

Solar Integrated Technologies, Inc. ("SIT" or the "Company") (AIM:SIT.LN), a leading provider of building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) roofing systems, announced today that stockholders approved the Company's proposed merger with Energy Conversion Devices, Inc. ("ECD") (NASDAQ: ENER), the leading global manufacturer of thin-film flexible solar laminate products for the building integrated and commercial rooftop markets. Read more in the release.

The Nassau Harbor Port Improvement Project in the Bahamas is under way. Project dredging is being conducted to make room for the new Genesis class cruise ships, which are expected to arrive by the end of the year. Engineers report that an error in sediment-laden water was discharge in an area in which silt curtains had not been established. The mistake in silt management has been corrected. Learn more here.;

Technical textiles conferences, including discussions of geosynthetics, are on the rise in India. Significant effort is being made to increase awareness not only among users and potential users but among manufacturers, regulators, and many others. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) and the Indian Ministry of Textiles are playing key roles. Learn more here.;

The Ministry of Textiles in India has launched TechnoTex (www.technotex.gov.in) to better promote the Indian technical textiles industry and to facilitate education in this ever expanding area of manufacturing. The website is divided into various zones, such as GeoTech (which includes the geosynthetic sector), BuildTech (for architectural uses) and AgroTech (for agriculture). Learn more here.;

The Solid Waste Association of North America's (SWANA) 15th Annual Landfill Symposium and Planning & Management Conference will be held 12-13 April 2010 in Reno, Nevada. SWANA seeks presentations on greenhouse gas emissions; project case studies; new technology; landfill engineering; regulations; and the financial status of the solid waste industry. DEADLINE for submissions: 11 September 2009. Contact Allison Burns at +1 240 494 2237 or techprograms@swana.org for more information. Learn more here.;

Cooper Land Development, Inc., a luxury home development company headquartered in Rogers, Arkansas, has agreed to pay a civil penalty and implement a storm water compliance program at its construction sites to settle allegations that it violated the Clean Water Act, the Justice Department and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today. According to a consent decree filed today in U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Missouri, Cooper Land Development has agreed to pay a $513,740 civil penalty to settle the allegations that it failed to properly manage construction site storm water runoff and implement erosion control at five of its housing developments located in Missouri, West Virginia and Arkansas. The penalty will be paid in four annual installments, plus interest, according to the consent decree.

A Michigan administrative law judge today affirmed the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality's (MDEQ) decision to issue two permits to the Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company for its proposed Eagle nickel and copper mine in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The determination is the most recent in a series of favorable legal decisions, and moves the Eagle mine project closer to construction, which will require hundreds of local workers. The State Office of Administrative Hearings and Rules rejected the environmental challenges brought by the National Wildlife Federation, Yellow Dog Watershed Preserve, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and the Huron Mountain Club to the MDEQ's issuance of state mine and water discharge permits.

The new issue of Land and Water magazine includes Ian Peggs' article on geomembrane action leakage rates. He writes: "The objective of using a geomembrane liner in a potable water reservoir, a waste water treatment plant lagoon, a CAFO pond, or any other kind of liquid containment facility is, of course, to prevent loss of liquids which are obnoxious or valuable. Leaks are most undesirable, to say the least. But we have learned over the years that while non-leaking facilities can apparently be built, we should not rely on single liners to be totally impermeable, for nothing is." Read a PDF copy of the article from Land and Water.

Geosynthetics magazine editor Ron Bygness reports that the new magazine website will incorporate archives going back to 1998. This is excellent news. Thanks, Ron! Learn more here.;