Containment

In 2009, Geofabrics® engaged a leading firm of consulting engineers, Parsons Brinckerhoff Australia (PBA), to test a range of geotextiles sold by various companies in Australia and to independently report on whether those geotextiles met with the published specifications about them. Download the Geofabrics® April Journal to read an overview of the Parsons Brinckerhoff. Learn more here.;

We have pleasure in announcing that we have recently secured the GEOFABRICS® trade mark both in Australia and New Zealand. This means that not only can we confidently place the symbol ® at the end of our brand but we are also afforded protection against infringement and misuse. Learn more here.;

Mr Manfred Balzer, qualified engineer and Managing Director of HUESKER Synthetic GmbH in Gescher, Westphalia, proudly announces: "There are not many companies lucky enough to be able to celebrate their 150th anniversary". Thanks to the innovative orientation and potential of HUESKER's excellent staff, the company has become an international market leader since it was established 150 years ago. Read more in the company's celebratory release.

While the interaction between thin-film photovoltaic cells with exposed geomembrane caps on closed waste cells have garnered great attention, they aren't the only approach utilizing geosynthetics in solar energy developments. American Environmental Group Ltd. (AEG) has been proud to be part of these unique new designs in waste management, and this month a site for which they installed a TPO cover was unveiled with its array of 3,200+ rigid solar panels. Read about it here.

Burke Industries, a global leader in the manufacture of high-quality geomembranes, is proud to announce the completion of the large floating cover for California's Santa Margarita Water District (SMWD) Upper Chiquita Reservoir, one of the deepest reservoirs in the United States. Designed to hold more than 240 million gallons of water and featuring slopes that drop more than 250 ft., the diamond-shaped facility features a 16 acre ft. surface that is protected by a long-term CSPE geomembrane from Burke.

Riva Nortje, the vice president of the Geosynthetics Interest Group of South Africa (GIGSA), reminds members that the biennial Gigsa awards are due by 30 June 2011. Categories include "Development in Technology" and "Construction." She notes that the GIGSA committee intends to issue these awards during the two-day short course to be presented by Professor R. Kerry Rowe at the Centurion Council Chambers on 6-7 September 2011. That course topic is "Geosynthetics in bottom liners and covers for use in lagoons, secondary containment, landfill and mining applications".

In his latest column, Textile World executive editor Jürg Rupp writes about the shift in high-end global manufacturing to developing countries, the needs and stresses placed upon the world as population swells, and opportunities this presents for technical textiles production. Geotextiles and geosynthetics, for example, will be necessary for the creation of more sustainable infrastructures. Learn more here.;

Land and Water Magazine's May/June 2011 issue includes an article from Arthur Cashin on the floods that this spring has delivered and some key technologies used to halt them. In Manitoba to Kentucky, Fiberweb's Defencell flood protection system was used to great system. Read more in the e-magazine version. Learn more here.;

The Minnesota Erosion Control Association (MECA) is planning its 2012 Annual Erosion Control and Stormwater Management Conference and Trade Show for 8-9 March 2012 in Nisswa, Minnesota. Abstracts are sought on local projects completed for stormwater management or erosion and sediment control, and new innovative products for stormwater management or erosion and sediment control. Deadline: 15 July 2011. Learn more here.;

During the Geo-Frontiers 2011 event in Dallas, the International Association of Geosynthetic Installers (IAGI) announced the winners of the association's installation awards of excellence. The highest vote getter in this year's competition and Award of Excellence winner was CETCO Contracting for its exemplary work on the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation's (PADOT) I-99 slope remediation construction. That project is summarized here.

On April 25, 2011, EPA published a draft NPDES general permit entitled “Draft National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) General Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Construction Activities.” As initially published in the Federal Register, written comments on the draft general permit were to be submitted to EPA on or before June 24, 2011 (a 60-day public comment period). Since publication, EPA has received several requests for additional time to submit comments. Therefore, the public comment period is being extended for 17 days and will now end on July 11, 2011. Learn more here.;

A new online software program to select the proper components and design an inlet filter unit for a storm water drainage system is now available from Advanced Drainage Systems, Inc. (ADS), the world's largest manufacturer of corrugated high-density polyethylene (HDPE) pipe. The step-by-step FLEXSTORM® Product Configurator is available free of charge at www.inletfilters.com and allows a filter to be configured based on drainage structure type and filtration needs.

Help your fellow civil engineers and civil engineering students who have been in the paths of recent natural disasters of historic magnitude around the nation, from severe flooding to F5 tornadoes. The Society has established a relief fund to aid ASCE members who are experiencing hardships. Make a contribution, and what you give will be matched by ASCE up to a total of $10,000. Learn more here.;

Ian Peggs of I-CORP INTERNATIONAL continues Geosynthetica's planned series of primers on geoelectric leak location technology--how it's used with geosynthetic barrier systems, relevant applications, affiliated issues from the field, and more. In this second article, Dr. Peggs addresses essential design criteria for making an installation surveyable.

The Solid Waste Association of North America's (SWANA's) Applied Research Foundation (ARF) has just released a revised report, called "The Long-Term Environmental Risks of Subtitle D Landfills." The report summarizes what is known about the actual long-term environmental risks associated with municipal solid waste landfills and introduces long-term care alternatives that can be used to manage and minimize these risks. SWANA will distribute this report to Federal, State and Provincial regulatory agencies in order to initiate a dialogue on the regulatory changes needed to improve landfill operation during the post-closure period.

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.;

Contech CPI has relaunched its website with a new look. Product information, case studies, and much more are available for retaining walls, plastic pipes, stormwater management and other key sectors and technologies. Learn more here.;

The Missouri River continues to threaten Midwestern states, and residents and the Army Corps of Engineers are working together to shore up or build levees. Corps officials have informed residents that they will be unleashing water from five dams to ease pressure on these reservoirs -- at a rate twice that of previous record releases. This will mean the river will rise in several areas and will top at least 11 levees. Learn more here.;

In Norriego Point, Florida, a proposal is gaining momentum to build a partial seawall with a T-head groin while repairing the two existing T-groins. Crews would later extend the stem of the T-head groin to the tip of the point with a sand-filled geotextile tube before constructing another T-head/terminal groin. A sheet pile wall would be constructed to protect the point. Lastly, sand would be piled on the point by a dredge and sea oats would be planted. Learn more here.;

The cover story for the June 2011 issue of Arab Construction World comes from Geosynthetica's Chris Kelsey. "Greener Infrastructures with Geosynthetics" looks at gas barrier improvements with EVOH layer incorporation and growth and opportunities in the region. Companies of note in the article include Leister Process Technologies, Kuraray, Raven Industries, I-CORP International, Sika, Mattex and BMC. Download the issue in PDF here.

The 6th International Mine Closure Conference (MC 2011) will be held 18-21 September 2011 at the Fairmont Chateau in Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada. This not-for-profit, annual conference is presented in various parts of the world by the Australian Centre for Geomechanics (ACG) and the Centre for Land Rehabilitation (CLR). Site tours will include a reclaimed tailings site in Alberta, a reclaimed mine in Alberta, and the famous underground mining railway in Kimberley (BC). Learn more.

The US EPA's latest AgSTAR Newsletter looks back at AgSTAR's Sixth National Conference, which was held 10-12 May 2011 in Boise, Idaho. Roughly 300 people attended technical sessions, networking events, and a trade show with 44 exhibitors. A tour of a nearby anaerobic digester system also took place during the three-day event. Attendees and exhibitors represented 37 states, three Canadian provinces, and five other countries. Read more. Learn more here.;

Presentations from the Sixth AgSTAR National Conference are now available on the event website. Learn more here.;

In its latest update, Magnum Energy reports that it is preparing to build a new battery that will be able to service future increases in oil production from its Provost area wells. This is a sweet light crude conventional oil battery. The planned facilities will include about a 1500 bopd treater, a geotextile lined and diked tank farm comprised of oil tanks and a fiberglass produced water tank, a pipeline header system, a test separator and a water injection pump.

New research out of Texas A&M's Department of Crop and Soil Sciences published in Crop Science, vol. 51, May - June 2011 shows the AirField System brings a tremendous reduction in irrigation frequency and overall water usage, outstanding root growth and depth, and an almost perfect perched water table, resulting in extreme playability, and more playable hours per year.