Containment

A 22 July 2010 slip opinion Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York finds that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation did not make an error in approving the extension of operations at a CWM Chemical Services hazardous waste landfill (RMU-1) in Niagara County. Part of the dispute has surrounded the permitted use of a geosynthetic clay liner in site capping plans versus a much thicker compacted clay liner. (The GCL enabled waste capacity to be increased by 106,870 cubic yards.) In the opinion, Judge John Lahtinen writes, "DEC determined, and the record supports, that a GCL cover affords better protection, thus having a positive environmental impact. The agency also noted that allowing the GCL cover would decrease the truck traffic that otherwise would have been necessary to deliver clay for a GCL cover." Learn more here.;

The Geosynthetic Institute (GSI), Folsom, Pennsylvania will be holding its next GSI Short Courses on March 22 and 23. A certification exam will also be offered on March 24. The opportunities are: "Geosynthetics in Waste Containment Liner and Cover Design," March 22; "Quality Control/Quality Assurance of Geosynthetics Installation," March 23; and the Examination for Inspector Certification, March 24. Read more about these events and download a registration brochure.

On Tuesday, 3 November, our engineer colleagues and friends Gaye Sprague and John Paulson were elected to their city councils. At a time when so much of American government is debating infrastructure, it seems especially relevant and important to have civil engineers serve in office. Read about them here.

Geofabrics Australasia and Monash University have posted a two-part (two "chapter") educational video series on geosynthetics in coastal protection applications. Part 1 (above) looks at the history and properties of the materials used; Part 2 (below) looks at installation. The series takes full advantage of the longer video capability now allowed on video-hosting sites such as YouTube and Vimeo. This coastal protection series runs a combined 57 minutes. Slides and live video have also been incorporated into the lecture presentation. Other videos from the lecture series will be available soon.

Dredging Today reports on the disappearance of numerous islands in the Chesapeake Bay due to erosion. One island, Poplar Island, is bucking the trend thanks in part to a dike system made of sand, geotextile and armor stone. With this protective barrier, the island is rising a few feet per year. Learn more here.;

EPA has awarded $520,400 to Wayne, Nebraska, for improvements to its wastewater treatment plant project. Wayne's existing 25-year-old facility continues to generate odor complaints regarding the sludge treatment system. The grant will help construct a wastewater treatment plant which will address odor concerns.

Raven Industries boasts a strong track record of manufacturing innovations and especially in regard to multi-layer barrier materials for geotechnical applications. The company has announced another advance in 7-layer extrusion....

Solmax, one of the world's largest manufacturers of geomembranes, is currently part of a Canada Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade (DFAIT) trade mission to Nigeria and Ghana. The company, along with other Canadian firms across multiple sectors, is traveling with the honorable Minister Ed Fast, Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Asia-Pacific Gateway.

China's Ministry of Transport may invest roughly 5 trillion yuan (USD $732 billion) in the next 5 years in transportation, ports and water conservation and conveyance. Geosynthetics will play an important role. Learn more here.;

In Columbia, Missouri, the 74-acre Crosscreek development has angered city council representatives who believe that the past two years worth of erosion at the site--which features steepened slopes--is unacceptable. One council member believes that the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) standards are not strong enough. In this part of Missouri, for example, they are intended to guard against an inch of rain in 24 hours; but the site in question just suffered a two-inch rain event in a 24-hour period. This actually occurred twice in one week. Learn more here.;

This year marks 10 years since northern California's Tulelake Irrigation District (TID) began to line sections of its extensive 240+ miles of canals, laterals and ditches. Water conservation is certainly a more discussed issue today, at TID and California environment leaders saw this back then. More efficient water supplies would be possible with containment technologies in drought afflicted areas and areas with high seepage loss. Read how TID began lining sections with 45-mil EPDM geomembranes (a Firestone case study). Learn more here.;

Geomembrane Technologies Inc. (GTI) has finished a project for a large cheese and butter plant in the state of Victoria, Australia, again demonstrating GTI's strength in successfully completing world-wide projects. The dairy processor turned to GTI's experts to design, fabricate and supervise the installation of an odor control cover for an additional lagoon required at an existing wastewater treatment system. The plant required odor control, due to its strong wastewater flow as part of its wastewater treatment system.

According to Iceland Review, borehole samples in Iceland indicate that gold may be mined there. Studies are on-going as to whether the gold content in the rock is significant enough to justify and pay for the processing. Geosynthetic containment systems have become vital to controlling mining-related pollution while creating efficiencies in the processing system: product is not lost. Learn more here.;

Colorado Lining International, Inc and Castagra Products, Inc. have paired up to bring the containment industry an environmental benign containment solution to market using a safe, non-toxic, vegetable oil based plastic that has a 20-year pedigree of protecting ships and concrete structures. The Ecodur Spray Liner System is also a solvent free spray-on liner system comprised completely of natural products with no harmful manufacturing emissions. It is NSF 61 Certified as a product suitable for use in drinking water storage tanks, piping systems and related structures and surfaces as a lining or coating. Uses include secondary fuel containment, tank linings and coatings, waste water treatment, landscape water containment, fuel storage, and pipeline secondary containment. Learn more.

Professional society and business newsletters are a fantastic way to keep current on international events. Geosynthetica, for example, grew out of I-CORP International’s 1990s newsletter Industry Insight. In the past week, two interesting newsletters have come out. (Continued.)

Intruders invaded Tanzania's third leading gold producer, North Mara Gold Mine and stole pond liners from the mine's waste ponds over the weekend, a spokesman for Tanzania Barrick Ltd., a unit of Canada-based Barrick Gold Corp. (ABX), owners of the mine, said Tuesday. The intruders stole around 90 square meters of pond liners on Oct. 3 and took 110 square meters on Oct. 4. The liners have been replaced. Learn more here.;

Many people visit Shaver Lake in the Sierra National Forest, Fresno County, California each year; but thousands have come recently to see the lake bottom. Shaver Lake has been drained to allow for the conclusion of geomembrane installation on the face of the lake's dam. The white geomembrane has been applied in two key phases with the upper half of the dam tackled in 2010 and the lower half now being finished in the drained lake bed. Learn more here.;

Du Toit Viljoen has retired from his years of work at South Africa-based Engineered Linings. Contacts for Engineered Linings are Marketing and Technical Director Peter Hardie (peterh@englining.co.za) and new Managing Director Dave Roy (droy@englining.co.za). Colleagues wishing to contact Du Toit privately may reach him through his new e-mail address, dutvil@gmail.com. We congratulate him on his retirement and trust we'll see him soon enough in his travels or perhaps at an IGS event. Learn more here.;

One of the world’s biggest manufacturers of geosynthetics seems set to go private. The multinational Royal Ten Cate NV (AMS:KTC), based in the Netherlands and listed on the NYSE...

We've seen a great many Calls for Papers, Abstracts and Proposals come out recently. It can be difficult to track all this during your busy work season. Keep up-to-date on the calls with our update column that may identify particular sessions of interest, such as the Geotechnical Risk portion of the 2009 DBIA Water/Wastewater event. Read more about these forthcoming deadlines.

The International Geosynthetics Society (IGS), International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE), and Tensar International have sponsored the publication of all of the previous Mercer Lecture Series papers online for free. The Mercer Lecture Series honors Dr. Brian Mercer, the inventor of the modern reinforcement geogrid. The prestigious Mercer Lecture is selected by a panel comprising of one representative from Tensar, ISSMGE, IGS and previous Mercer Lecture Award Winners.

A July 15, 2020 post on the SCS Engineers website provided some nicely experienced perspective on why temporary landfill caps are increasingly welcomed on landfill sites. Dr. Ali Khatami,...

The 26th International Conference on Solid Waste Technology and Management (ICSW) 27-30 March 2011 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, invites abstracts for both oral and poster presentations. This wide-ranging event is affiliated with the Journal of Solid Waste Technology and Management and Widener University's Department of Civil Engineering. Abstracts due: 31 October 2010. Learn more. Learn more here.;

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) has published its June 2010 Country Analysis Brief. The current focus is on Egypt. Egypt is a significant oil producer and a rapidly growing natural gas producer. The Suez Canal and Sumed Pipeline are strategic routes for Persian Gulf oil shipments, making Egypt an important transit corridor for world oil markets. Learn more here.;

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded nearly $2.5 million to 11 companies to support their work in eight key environmental areas: monitoring and control of air emissions, biofuels, green buildings, drinking water monitoring, hazardous waste monitoring, water infrastructure, homeland security, nanotechnology and innovation in manufacturing. Last year, the companies received "proof of concept" awards from EPA, and will use the additional funds announced today to move their technologies towards commercialization.