Containment

This paper looks at the use of fabricated geomembranes and the numerous cost advantages of these materials. The reduction of installation time and testing is particularly important in harsh environments and fabricated geomembranes can be used to extend the “field installation season.” Further the reduced installation cost is derived from the use of large factory fabricated panels that reduces the amount of field seaming and field personnel time that is required. Additional savings can be found in the reduction of third party Construction Quality Control costs. The paper describes how Construction Quality Control standards are maintained by conducting CQC prior to the geomembrane being shipped to the jobsite. Learn more here.;

The Minnesota Erosion Control Association (MECA) is planning its 2010 Annual Erosion Control and Stormwater Management Conference and Trade Show. The event will be held 11-12 March 2010 in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Organizers seek presentations of two types: local projects completed for stormwater management or erosion and sediment control; new innovative products for stormwater management or erosion and sediment control. Abstracts and titles are due by 31 July 2009 to meca@mnerosion.org.

The massive American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is having a considerable (and beneficial) impact on construction markets and the environment. Approximately $7.22 billion is moving into these key areas with water-related projects receiving the lionshare. (CONTINUED.)

Houston-based GSE Lining Technology has announced the appointment of Steve Eckhart to the Vice President of Sales & Marketing, North American Operations position. Mr. Eckhart is an industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience. He has worked for GSE before and is well-familiar with its product lines and applications expertise. Congratulations are due to him on his appointment, and a warm welcome back.

When a BP oil rig suffered a catastrophic accident and released an enormous volume of oil into the eco-sensitive Gulf of Mexico, one of the primary tools used to contain and combat the spill both on the water and along shorelines was absorbent oil booms. Millions of linear feet of EarthKnit knitted tubes from Supertex, Inc. were used to help these booms succeed. Read about it on the EarthKnit website. Learn more here.;

We have received word this week that industry veteran and friend Ronald Belanger has passed away. Ron owned and served as president of Anaheim, California-based Precision Geosynthetics Laboratories International (PGLI). In a letter to the industry, PGLI Vice President Cora Queja noted that "We join Ron Belanger’s family in this great loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife, Gisela (Gigi); daughter, Michelle; and granddaughter, Sydney. We will surely miss him." PGLI confirms that it is continuing its operations with the direction of long-time key personnel Cora Queja and Carmelo Zantua. Learn more here.;

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 first field trial in Australia for conductive geotextiles enhanced with graphene have been a success, Imagine IM reports. The company, which built Australia’s first commercial scale graphene production...

Jute in the form of Jute Geotextiles (JGT) are used in road construction. JGT is not being used for modern lifestyle products. The specific areas of its application are: Road construction, especially medium and low volume roads; River bank erosion control; Stabilisation of flood and road embankments; Hill slope erosion control; Soft soil consolidation; and Watershed management.

Despite slowing demand in the US, the mining and metals sector is expected to remain strong for Eurpoean groups, reports Thomson Financal Network. Demand in China and India will help keep mining commodities prices--iincluding gold, copper and silver--high. Those prices also influence new developments, and they'll require significant environmental controls, such as leach pad liners. Learn more here.;

In late 2009, the town of Workington in Cumbria, United Kingdom was affected by a considerable flood. In just 13 days, a temporary bridge was constructed over the River Derwent. The project was designed and led by the Royal Engineers' Captain Caroline Livesey and involved the utilization of geogrid for mechanical stabilization of aggregate sub-base for the bridge abutments and surrounding structures, such as the construction platform. Tensar's Ian Fraser revisits the project here with Captain Livesey and reports that though the bridge was rapidly constructed on uncertain, flood-impacted banks, it was found to have settled on 5 mm in its 15-month service life.

The 2010 edition of the Techtextil North America Symposium will be held 18-20 May 2010 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The Symposium will have the theme "Moving Forward - Innovation and Technology drive the Future" and will run concurrent with the annual Techtextil North America exhibition. A Call for Papers and Presentations has been issued. Read more.

Ohio EPA recently issued a final hazardous waste permit modification to Cytec Industries Inc. (1405 Greene St., Marietta). The permit authorizes Cytec to clean up additional areas on the site according to Ohio EPA's selected remedies. The Washington County site has a long history of industrial use. Specialty chemicals were manufactured there until 1996. Prior to modern environmental laws, some industrial process waste chemicals were disposed of on site in ponds, landfills and other areas.

The International Erosion Control Association (IECA) Southeast Chapter has announced two scholarships of $1,500 are available for the 2013-2014 school year. Recipients must be undergraduates with a declared major at an accredited four-year college or university located in the Southeast Region, which includes North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, or Florida. Applicants must be studying in a field related to erosion and sediment control. Learn more about the award and application requirements. Learn more here.;

The Ontario Waste Management Association (OWMA) is very pleased to announce the details for a very unique facility tour in Southern Ontario and New York State to visit various waste management facilities. There will be seven facilities on the tour representing new and innovative technologies and/or management practices. The tour will take place 29 and 30 September 2009. Read more about it.

The International Road Federation (IRF) will bring its Executive Seminar Series to Lake Buena Vista, Florida (Orlando area) 11-13 April 2012 for a session on "Rural Roads: Best Practices in Low-Volume Roads Engineering." The event will be held at the Wyndham Lake Buena Vista and lead instructor Gorden Keller, P.E., GE will be joined by two guest instructors: Alan Kercher, P.E. (President, Kercher Engineering) and the World Bank's Ben Gericke (Program Team Leader, Europe and Central Asia Sustainable Development). Key topics include geosynthetics, erosion control, drainage, slope stabilization, and more.

More than 400,000 cubic meters of containment soil has been removed Toronto's TTC Light Rail Train Yard. The $51-million (including taxes) soil remediation and soil capping project involves rammed aggregate piers and a GCL-lined temporary sediment-control pond, among other site solutions. Learn more here.;

The third Global Waste Management Symposium (GWMS) will take place 30 September - 3 October 2012 at the Arizona Grand Resort in Phoenix, Arizona and will serve as a forum for the presentation of applied and fundamental research, case studies, and policy analysis on waste and recyclables management. The organizers invite the community of researchers, engineers, designers, academicians, students, facility owners and operators, regulators, and policymakers to participate. The deadline for submission of abstracts has been extended to December 1.

The deadline for submitting abstracts for presentation at StormCon 2010 is 2 December 2009. StormCon is seeking abstracts for presentations at the 9th annual conference, which will be held 1-5 August 2010, in San Antonio, Texas. Abstracts are invited for the following session tracks: BMP Case Studies; Low-Impact Development; Stormwater Program Management; Water-Quality Monitoring; and Advanced Research Topics. To see a full description of the conference tracks and to submit your abstract online, visit www.StormCon.com. Learn more here.;

The construction industry in Europe has been in decline since 2008, with figures from Euroconstruct showing total spend of 1444 billion euros in 2008, 1316 in 2009 and an anticipated 1264 in 2010. Jon Nash of AMI Consulting reviewed this data in a market paper at the annual AMI conference Waterproof Membranes 2010, which took place in December in Cologne, Germany. Around 50% of construction was new build this year. The situation is expected to improve in 2011 with around 1% growth. Civil engineering has been sustained throughout this time frame by government expenditure.

Though even the United Arab Emirates has suffered a slowdown in construction due to the flagging global economy, a number of major developments continue nonetheless. Among them is the Jumeirah Golf Estates, which will feature one of (if not the) largest permeable paving endeavors ever. UK-based Hanson Formpave certainly welcomes the news, as its geotextile/geogrid system has been specified into the overall construction to support the 250,000 m2 of permeable paving. Learn more here.;

By Natalie Daly, Bertrand Breul, and Bernard Breul – The Chevron Willbridge Terminal is located in Portland, Oregon near the Willamette River. The facility stores...

At the recent Geo-Frontiers 2011 Conference in Dallas, Texas, the North America Geosynthetics Society (NAGS) sponsored its biennial conference student paper competition. The winning student author was Ms. Azadeh Hoor from Queen's University for her paper "Application of Thermal Insulation in Landfill Liners." The 1st runner up was Mr. Ben Leshchinsky of Columbia University for his paper titled "Enhancing Ballast Performance Using Geocell Confinement." The 2nd runner up was Ms. Carmen Franks of University of Maryland for her paper titled "Geosynthetic Filters for Water Quality Improvement."

terrafix® has made substantial updates to the engineering information in its annual Winter Seminar Series, making this year's offerings more important even for those who have attended previously....

“The utilization of alternative final cover systems is an area of growing interest among landfill owners who want to avoid the problems that are associated with traditional final cover...