Containment

Registration is now open on-line for the 14th National Brownfields Conference, scheduled for 3-5 April 2011 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. Co-sponsored by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the International City/County Management Association, the conference is the largest, most comprehensive conference in the nation focused on cleaning up and redeveloping abandoned, underutilized, and potentially contaminated properties.

Lynn Merrill, writing for Waste Age, reviews a number of interesting alternative daily covers (ADCs) in the landfill business. One of the more interesting notes, however, comes from a Maryland site at which two landfill cells were constructed simultaneously in order to make construction more economical. Polyethylene covers from Raven are being used to protect the cell liners and leachate collection system while the cells are not in active use. Learn more here.;

The infrastructure of the United States received horrible grades in the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) 2005 Report Card. As Rep. Heath Shuler's (D-NC) statement to the House Transportation and Infrastructure, Subcommittee on Water Resources and the Environment hearing on the Water Resources Development Act of 2008 pointed out, the only passing grade given to the American infrastructure by ASCE was for waste management--the one sector in which geosynthetic technologies are required for use. ASCE estimates that it will take $1.6 trillion over 5 years to properly upgrade the troubled infrastructure. Organizations such as the Geosynthetic Materials Association (GMA) are now working with lobbyists to bring these issues straight to legislators' desks. And on Thursday, February 14, the US Senate Banking Committee interviewed Treasury Secretary Paulson and Federal Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke about the US economy. Senators Dodd (D-CN) and Hagel (R-NB) both expressed concern about the state of the US infrastructure and how an economic slowdown could make the US fall even further behind the world in modernizing the infrastructure system. What we should take from it all is this: modern infrastructures need modern materials. The waste management's industry engineers and regulators have understood this and adapted. Keep an eye on infrastructure and legislation news developments here at geosynthetica, follow the updates to ASCE's report card, and take a look at ASCE's infrastructure blog.

By Chris Kelsey - On September 26, immediately following the 10th International Conference on Geosynthetics (10 ICG), a high-level, one-day workshop on HDPE geomembranes convened at the headquarters of BAM,...

The latest issue of Tensar's GEOTALK newsletter is now available. This issue includes case studies on the Port Mann/Highway 1 (PMH1) Improvement Project (British Colombia, Canada), a $500,000 cost reduction on a Michigan road rehab project, and a lake's restoration in Belleville, Wisconsin. Other articles focus on seasonal flood protection, the approval of key grade separation solutions, and Alabama Power's Hydromulch trials. Learn more here.;

The International Erosion Control Association (IECA) has announced that Barry Fagan, PE/PLS, CPESC, is being recognized with the 2011 Presenter of the Year Award. This award recognizes an outstanding presenter that demonstrates excellence in presentation skills, educational delivery and content preparation. The winner is determined through the review of presenter evaluations received at IECA's annual conference and expo.

CompositesWorld, publisher of High-Performance Composites and Composites Technology magazines, has announced that the agenda is nearly set for its High-Performance Fibers 2010 conference, which will be held 9-10 November 2010, at the Doubletree Guest Suites Historic Charleston Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina. This year’s agenda will have some different presentations, including one on geotextiles that incorporate fiber optic sensors that provide structural health monitoring of critical earth structures like walls, slopes, roads, rails, levees and dams, identifying unseen problems before a catastrophic failure occurs. Learn more here.;

CRIII is the final phase of Hong Kong's Central District Waterfront Reclamation Project and includes the first phase of the Central-Wanchai Bypass Project. The seawall has been the most important innovation of the project, involving seawall foundation, seawall structures such as cooling water pumping stations, bermstones, hand packed rubble, leveling course, seawall blocks, concrete coping and laying of geotextile. Read more. Learn more here.;

Engineers at District 2 of the Illinois Department of Transportation were busy preparing plans for a major project in the Quad cities area in Rock Island County of Northwestern Illinois. The project, an extension of the Milan Beltway, was to include a long and highly visible drainage channel. They sought out a vegetated solution for this project, and the ideal solution they found was with composite turf reinforcement mats (C-TRM) from Tensar North American Green. Read about the exemplary and cost-saving performance from this site.

Today, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the City of Redondo Beach, California, celebrate the groundbreaking of the Alta Vista Park Diversion and Reuse Project, which will protect coastal waters from urban stormwater runoff -- the number one cause of coastal water pollution in Southern California -- and use collected rainwater for park irrigation. The $2.2 million project is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Learn more.

Water quality concerns are radically changing how municipalities manage runoff. A greater focus has been placed on preventing water from entering storm systems (e.g., through infiltration designs). Also, cities...

Authorities in the shoreline erosion-plagued region of Orissa (Kendrapara District), India, are gearing up to use geosynthetic tubes to save a threatened sea embankment. This is country's second such project. A team from the World Bank has been inspecting the endangered embankment, and technical experts from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Chennai will visit shortly. Learn more here.;

Over the past four months, Australia-based engineer Siamak Paulson (ADE Consulting Group Pty Ltd) has hosted an occasional podcast, the eponymously named Siamak’s Geosynthetics Podcast. Siamak interviews experts in...

The USGS estimates that the Arctic holds about 22 percent of the world’s undiscovered conventional oil and natural gas resource base, 30 percent of the world’s undiscovered natural gas resources, 13 percent of the world’s undiscovered oil resources, and 20 percent of the world NGL resources. Access, exploration, mining and environmental preservation are issues to be discussed at the Arctic Technology Conference 2011 (7-9 February 2011) in Houston. Abstracts are accepted through 1 August 2010. Learn more here.;

The Quality and Standards Authority of Ethiopia (QSAE) has offered a quality management system (QMS) certificate to Addis Ababa-based Geosynthetics Industrial Works Plc. QSAE began certifying companies about six months ago. So far, 11 companies have been recognized. Learn more here.;

A volatile organic compound (VOC) has been detected intruding through the geosynthetic cover of the Haverford Township, Pennsylvania Superfund Site. The off-gasing vapor has been identified as trichloroethylene. In its liquid form, trichloroethylene is a nonflammable, colorless liquid. It's used as a solvent for cleaning or degreasing metal parts. The US Environmental Protection Agency continues to monitor the site and is evaluating how extensive the vapor intrusion may have been. Fourteen nearby residences have been notified. Learn more here.;

Geotextile tubes--in varying layered designs--were used in a dune stabilization project in Leirosa, Portugal. When some areas of the pyramidal design split after uncharacteristically high tides, geotextile rehabilitation was conducted with design and technical support provided by NAUE. Read about the redesign strategy in a special issue of the Journal of Coastal Research (2009), from the ICS 2009 event. Learn more here.;

In three new reports, Applied Market Information Ltd. (AMI) has documented the established European and North American pipe extrusion industries, as well as the up-and-coming industry of South America. What these reports make evident is that the effects of global recession are still taking their toll on the plastics industry and that the pipe extrusion industry is no exception. But the demand for pipe extrusion in Latin America has been growing strongly, thanks in large part due to a sustained commitment in infrastructure development. Learn more.

When Paul Barker and his wife Diana abruptly married and moved to Africa so he could begin his career in what became the field of geosynthetics, he had expected...

The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) is concerned over too little regulation and oversight in some mining operations in the state. One uranium mine that was inspected recently as cited for numerous problems, including a number of pour patches on a geomembrane and an unchecked pipe penetrating one of the pond liners. Learn more here.;

The L&T Knowledge City at Vadodara in Gujarat is the hub of several key businesses for the corporation, which controls a broad portfolio of hydrocarbon and power-related businesses. The...

Bob Drake, editor of CE News and Rebuilding America's Infrastructure, has announced a new magazine contact email address: bdrake@zweigwhite.com. This updated address is the result of ZweigWhite's reacquisition of CE News and other publishing properties from Stagnito Media. Phone and physical address are: Bob Drake (Editor), CE News, 6170 Sandy Ridge Cir. NW, North Canton, OH 44720. Phone +1 330 966 2454. Learn more here.;

By Maccaferri - A unique geogrid has played an integral role in enabling a large industrial facility in Niagara (Ontario, Canada) to expand its production facility. Stormwater and clean process water...

ASTM International Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has revised standard D5199, "Standard Test Method for Measuring the Nominal Thickness of Geosynthetics" as D5199-11. This test method may be used for acceptance testing of commercial shipments of geotextiles and geomembranes, but caution is advised since information on between-laboratory precision is incomplete. Comparative tests may be advisable. Learn more here.;

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has extended the compliance date for all facilities and established a new compliance date for farms subject to the oil Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) regulations. This final rule is part of EPA's multi-phased strategy to address concerns with the SPCC regulation. Specifically, this SPCC rule amendment extends the dates by which the owner or operator of an SPCC regulated facility or farm must prepare or amend and implement an SPCC plan to 10 November 2010.