Containment

The mining of oil and gas in deep rock calls for the use of thousands of gallons of water. The fracturing fluids become contaminated, either as part of or subsequent to the process, and must, in many areas, be stored in lined pits. However, companies in Colorado are looking to turn away from liners and instead use underground injection disposal, in part because they are finding it difficult to dispose of liners after use. Many landfills will not accept them because of potential toxic contamination. Colorado may need to change its liner disposal rule to a bury-in-place scheme. Learn more here.;

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 town of Barrie in Ontario, Canada is digging into its past--literally. The old landfills is being "mined" for recyclables. The old waste is removed, inspected, recyclables are taken out, and the waste-to-be-reburied is sent to a modern, lined facility. This process produces new volume not only through removing waste but through improved compaction. It's estimated that a full decade of space is being created. The first global conference on waste mining just took place in London in October. Learn more here.;

The city of Franklin, Tennessee's 30-acre reservoir has been leaking for a number of years. An estimated 1 million gallons leaks from it each day. But crews will soon begin to drain the reservoir ahead of a three-month crack repair plan. This involves the installation of a new geomembrane liner for long-term containment and the removal of 26,000 cubic yards of silt to restore the facility to capacity. Learn more here.;

ATLANTA – Tensar Corporation, the global leader in geosynthetic site development technology, announced today that it has been acquired by Castle Harlan, Inc., a New York-based middlemarket private equity firm. "By...

rom 20-22 April 1977 the International Conference on the Use of Fabrics in Geotechnics was held in Paris, France. This watershed event included a paper from engineer Dr. J.P. Giroud in which he coined two terms that have become central to the field of geosynthetics: "geotextile" and "geomembrane." The Paris gathering introduced many new users to the fast-developing field of geosynthetics and, perhaps even more importantly, connected many companies, universities, and individual engineers who had already been furthering understanding of the materials—current and needed characteristics, manufacturing potential, applications for adoption, design methodologies, etc.

From April 13, 2011 on the Fast Company website: "Ethonomic Indicator of the Day: 50% - The percent of Americans who disapprove of building more nuclear plants." Fascinating article. Read more. Learn more here.;

Welding and hot air equipment manufacturer Leister Technologies has announced the addition of Bob Annalora to its U.S. Geosynthetics Division. Annalora has worked in the geosynthetics field for...

Geosintec Iberia 1 will be held 5-6 November 2013 in Seville, Spain. Taking place under the auspices of the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS), the event will launch a new biennial series...

The staff of Tampa Bay Water, Clearwater, Fla., is recommending awarding a $162.4-million contract to Kiewit Infrastructure Group, Omaha, Neb., to repair and expand the utility’s six-year-old, 15.5-billion-gallon, cracking reservoir. Under its proposal, Kiewit will remove and reclaim the reservoirs existing flat-plate soil cement and soil wedge, remove and replace the geomembrane layer, and add embankment fill, a drainage system and stair-step soil cement around the entire interior face. Learn more here.;

Geosynthetic Materials Association (GMA) members were in Washington, D.C., 1-3 March 2010 for the association's semiannual Lobby Days. GMA has consistent representation in Washington through our contracted firms, Kemp Partners/Whitmer & Worrall. But to reinforce GMA's message on Capitol Hill, twice a year GMA-member companies send representatives to meet with Members of Congress as both constituents and members of our trade association. Read more in the summary report from GMA managing director Andrew Aho.

The Advertising Standards Authority has upheld a challenge made by NAUE that questions whether certain claims in a brochure published by Tensar International could be substantiated. The brochure, "TriAx: A Revolution in Geogrid Technology," detailed the properties and performance advantages of Tensar TriAx geogrids. Within the information in this brochure, Tensar talks about the research that has evolved into a "revolutionary change from a rectangular to a triangular grid aperture." It goes on to say: "This was a revolution in geogrids technology with significant, new improved benefits over the biaxial geogrids." (Continued.)

A US House of Representatives panel has signed off on a bill allocating $882 million for a public-works project intended to overhaul the Trinity River waterfront in downtown Dallas. The cash -- almost double the amount originally set aside for the improvements -- would be used to raise levees, implement new erosion-control measures, and build or rehabilitate several pump stations. Learn more here.;

Quick word out of the Geosynthetic Materials Association (GMA): John Henderson of Tencate Geosynthetics has been re-elected as Chairman the GMA Executive Council. This will be John's second term. Writes GMA executive director, Andrew Aho, "We appreciate John’s service and look forward to his continued leadership as Chairman." In the past couple years, GMA has made great strides in communication with US Congressional legislators and infrastructure committees. Learn more here.;

The Associated Press reports that Idaho-based Hecla Mining Co. pay $102,000 in penalties following a spill of mine tailings at a zinc and lead facility near Mullan, Idaho. More than 22,000 gallons of hazardous material was released. Of greatest concern in the incident is the roughly 900 gallons of liquid mill tailings that spilled into the South Fork Coeur d'Alene River during a heavy storm in 2006. That accident occurred at the ironically named Lucky Friday Mine. The company has taken numerous steps to correct these matters and prevent them from being repeated. Learn more here.;

OCTOBER 2013 - Several members of the GeoEngineering Centre and their students were recognized at CGS events held in conjunction with GeoMontreal, the 66th annual conference of the Canadian...

SKZ's 2nd International Conference on Geosynthetics Middle East will be held in Dubai, UAE, 10-11 November 2009. The speaker and topic line up has been announced and it is certainly an impressive list. Ian Peggs of I-CORP will present on predicting end-of-life for high-density polyethylene (HDPE) geomembranes and the incorporation of flexible solar cells on exposed landfill caps; Carl De Leon of Solmax will present on geomembrane liners in harsh, petrochemical containment operations; Detlef Schramm of Dow will present a geomembrane global review; Silke Schwöbken of SENSOR will present on drainage detection systems; and much more. Dr. Helmut Zanzinger will chair the seminar. Download the program in PDF.

Lubbock Online has published a short article about Landmark Brownfield, a division of Leggett and Platt. The company is converting agricultural waste into hydro-mulch formulas as part of Landmark and Leggett's larger erosion control and soil stabilization business. The company contends that while most hydro-mulches contain wood or paper, the use of cotton ag waste is beneficial for grass seed germination, soil erosion control and soil health. Learn more here.;

The Senate will vote on a bill to allocate $37 billion for clean water across the country. The bill would earmark $20 billion for low-cost loans for water infrastructure, with another $15 billion for drinking water over five years. The federal authorization for the clean water fund has remained at the same levels since 1987, according to Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee. Learn more here.;

There are two ASTM International standards updates to report for 8 April 2013 from Committee D35 on Geosynthetics: * Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has published a new standard, D7853 -...

In one of the more memorable recent pairings of Congressional sponsorship and the subject of a bill, Idaho Senator Mike Crapo has co-sponsored with Missouri's Senator Roy Blunt the introduction of legislation to exempt various animal waste and farm management practices from Superfund liability and regulation. Read the senators' release.

By 2041, the City of Vancouver is expected to grow by another million residents to a total population of 3.4 million. The increased population will weigh heavily on the...

The 2011 ICKGSS (International Conference of Korean Geosynthetics Society) invites you to participate in an event that commemorates the 10th Anniversary of the founding of the Korean Geosynthetics Society. Organized by the KGS under the auspices of the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS), 2011 ICKGSS will be held 23-24 November 2011 in Seoul, South Korea. KEY TOPICS include (I) Coastal, Transportation and Underground Engineering; (II) Erosion Control and Hydraulic Engineering; (III) Geo-Environmental and Green Structure Application; (IV) Testing, Standardization, Regulation and Reliability; (V) Geosynthetics Stabilized and Reinforced Soil Structure; and (VI) MQC/MQA and CQC/CQA of Geosynthetics. Abstracts due: 30 May 2011.

In the latest addition to our GeoAmericas series of stories, we look back at the GeoAmericas 2016 project story of how Groupe Alphard utilized electrical leak location (ELL) surveys...

Start the week with the latest in the geoengineering world. Here's the GeoWire conversation for the week of June 8. WORK SMARTER. BIG PROJECTS Nevada might soon host the largest solar...