Containment

Vancouver, British Columbia is suffering a garbage crunch: too much waste, not enough space. One plan calls for increasing the amount of waste dumped at Burns Bog--a compressed peat-lined landfill! To be sure, concerns are being raised over the lack of a modern lining system. Garbage may be exported to the US for burial while the city tries to find an acceptable location for a new landfill's construction. Learn more here.;

geosindex.com lists geosynthetic data and it's free to access. Registration is never requested. For a sample of what the site provides, check out the geotextile data. The interactive table is sortable and users can choose what criteria fields they would like to see, such as CBR Puncture, NTPEP, and tensile strength. Questions on how to use the site or how to list your products? Contact us. Learn more here.;

The 6-acre, former industrial zone along the Gowanus Canal in New York will soon be redeveloped and made into a public place with park space and housing, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports. The project is down to two competing companies. Significant environmental cleanup will be needed. Learn more here.;

The ASTM Proficiency Testing Program has just expanded its existing Textiles Proficiency Testing Program to include a new proficiency testing program on yarns and threads. This new PTP is an industry driven quality assurance program for companies doing yarn and thread component performance evaluations on a routine basis. This PTP will provide participants with a statistical tool that will enable them to compare, improve and maintain a high level of performance in the use of ASTM test methods with other laboratories worldwide. The test parameters in the ASTM yarn and thread PTP include the following ASTM standard tests: · D 1422, Test Method for Twist in Single Spun Yarns by the Untwist-Retwist Method; · D 1423, Test Method for Twist in Yarns by Direct-Counting; · D 1907, Test Method for Linear Density of Yarn (Yarn Number) by the Skein Method; and · D 2256, Test Method for Tensile Properties of Yarns by the Single-Strand Method (straight break strength and loop strength). For each test trial, laboratory participants receive a different spool containing 500 yards of a representative yarn or thread for testing, along with interactive electronic data report forms and test instructions. Using the specified ASTM program tests, participating laboratories conduct the tests of their choice that they routinely run. Upon completion of testing, each lab electronically submits their data to the ASTM PTP Center for use in generating statistical summary reports. Final reports, which are electronically distributed within a month of the data submission deadline, contain: · All test results, coded to maintain PTP customer confidentiality; · Statistical analysis of test data; and · Charts plotting test results versus laboratory code. Test results received through the program will allow laboratories to monitor strengths and weaknesses to maintain accreditation status and compare test results and calculated statistical parameters with labs throughout the world. Test cycles will be held in June and December. Companies must be registered by April 30 to be included in the June test trial. The annual subscription fee for both trials in 2008 is $290 USD. For more information on registration and fees, please contact Helen Mahy, ASTM International (phone: 610/832-9683; hmahy@astm.org) or visit the proficiency test program for textiles section of the ASTM Web site at the link below. Learn more here.;

The Klamath River along the California - Oregon border is the site of numerous 100-year-old dams. Proposals seem to be advancing, though, towards dismantling the power-oriented structures in order to free up more irrigation water. Plenty of erosion control, stabilization and containment technologies will be needed if this water rerouting project goes forth. It's still a ways away. Learn more here.;

The Australian publication The Age has published a piece on landfilling. The article follows the garbage from bin to burial, and in the process discovers and educates readers about the lengths waste management companies go to now to safely handle and bury garbage. This includes lining systems, leachate management, closure cap planning, and much more. Learn more here.;

The workshop, Current Trends in Solid Waste Management, will be held at 5:30 -7:00 pm on Wednesday, January 30 at the Tampa Marriott Riverside the same hotel hosting the ASTM D35 task group meetings. Clarke Lundell, Director of Engineering of Republic Industries, will be speaking on: Standards needs in the waste management industry; Current trends in the waste management industry; Future technologies and the associated needs for standardization. Learn more here.;

The three-mile-long Shadow Lake in Middletown, New Jersey has been overrun by vegetation and sediment. But $3.8 million was freed in December for much-needed dredging operations. Environmental impact studies and dredging approaches are now being investigated. Learn more here.;

See the latest geomembrane data at geosindex.com. Learn more here.;

geosynthetica publishes a number of Tech Docs every year. These come from our underwriters, engineers in the field, and from us. Take for example Dr. Ian D. Peggs' short piece on geomembrane installation designs with ice. Search the Tech Doc database for other articles, or go directly to our TechComposites page where documents are bundled by topic for your convenience. You can access these in the rollover of the Technical Documents button above.

A report from the US Environmental Protection Agency suggests that more than $200 billion in capital investments are needed to control wastewater pollution in the next 20 years. The four-year study focused on publicly owned wastewater facilities and marked $134.4 billion for treatement and collection, $54.8 billion for overflow correction and $9 billion for stormwater management. Learn more here.;

Read a short review on WASTECON 2007, held in Reno, Nevada, USA, October 16-18 2007. The page also includes a link to the Fall 2007 New York State Association for Solid Waste Management (NYSASWM) newsletter "Wasteline." Bob Phaneuf provides a write-up of the LIS Course that he, Sam Allen of TRI and Ian Peggs, I-CORP INTERNATIONAL organized. The course was co-sponsored in June 2007 (Colonie, Albany, NY) by NYSASWM & NYSDEC’s Division of Solid & Hazardous Materials .

Maryland's Chesapeake Bay is undergoing an extensive restoration, but lawmakers are sitting on $50 million and haggling about how to use it. They would like to find census on how to spend it, what erosion control methods would work best, and how they can more fully track nitrogen and phosphorus reductions of runoff. Learn more here.;

Stacks of gypsum 100 feet high, limestone waste collected and buried for 25 year, and all of it without a liner? That's what a South Carolina power plant operation has proposed...but residents, fearing for the quality of their groundwater, have rejected SCE&G's plan. Learn more here.;

Get professional development hour (PDH) credit for reading and responding to articles in CE News' PDH Series. The current article, "Performance Considerations for Proper Selection of Stormwater Channel Lining Materials," has been authored by Scott Manning and Deron Austin of Propex Geosynthetics. Download a PDF copy of the article today. Learn more here.;

In the landfilling arena, geosynthetic lining systems have become standard not just for their performance over traditional clay liner layers but because even multi-layer systems are significantly thinner. This allows for highly valued capacity increases for the landfill. In Porter, New York, a new proposal would allow for extending a hazardous waste landfill site and construction of a new cell. Learn more here.;

In Namibia, a water shortage is striking the northern portion of the country in part due to repair needs at a vital reservoir. A cyclone struck not long ago and damaged the cover on the reservoir. Evaporation is a serious risk in Namibia. Situations like this underscore the need for containment technologies amidst increasing drought conditions in the world. Geomembrane linings and floating covers are sound conservation solutions. Learn more here.;

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is removing some regulations on livestock producters regarding emissions from animal waste. Some say degrading waste is not a polluter. Others cite regions such as California's San Joaquin Valley, which is heavily agricultural yet rivals Houston and Los Angeles' air pollution. Lagoon covers help contain emissions. Learn more here.;

Within the Grand Lake Watershed coordinator's notes from St. Marys, Ohio, you'll find news of a grant to dewater hog farm manure with geotextile tubes. It's an on-going study, it seems. Learn more here.;

The World Bank has released its African Development Indicators 2007. The report finds that the continent has grown on pace with the rest of the world - 4.5 percent. Much of Africa, it seems, is turning the corner. Sustaining growth is key. That will require investment in infrastructure, environment, agriculture and more. Download the report in PDF here. Learn more here.;

The US House of Representatives voted 361-54 to override a water bill veto of President Bush - the first override of his almost seven years in office. The $23.2 billion bill now goes to the Senate for an override vote. It includes considerable funds for erosion control, flood control, wastewater management and transportation. Learn more here.;

PSV Holdings, which holds a significant stake in African mining operations, has acquired South Africa-based Engineered Linings, a geomembrane specialist. Engineered Linings is expert in heap leach pads, landfills, wastewater management, and much more. Learn more here.;

A 2.5-million-gallon oil-pumping station is moving forth in western McHenry County, Illinois near the city of Woodstock. County officials had tried to halt the project, which is part of a pipeline delivering oil from Western Canada all the way to Northwest Indiana. An agreement to install geosynthetic secondary containment is one of the reasons objection to the project has waned. Learn more here.;

The city of Fernley, Nevada has received permission from the state Division of Environmental Protection to move forth with a water treatment plant's construction. A major concern was the presence of arsenic in the site's drying ponds, but the submitted design has met the environmental bar by including thick concrete basins and a 60-mil HDPE secondary containment liner. Learn more here.;

The IGS India promoted workshop: Applications of Geosynthetics - Present and Future” was held 20-21 September 2007 in Gandhinagar (Gujarat), India. Read a review sent by A.C. Gupta, Treasurer, Indian Chapter of IGS.