Containment

In March 2010 SWANA received a request from the Service Metropolitain de Collecte des Residus Solides (SMCRS) in Haiti for assistance in dealing with the solid waste problems occurring following the earthquake. SWANA responded by establishing a SWANA Haiti Response Team comprised of volunteer SWANA members from SWANA's Collection Technical Division who met with representatives of the SMCRS and developed a position paper that documents Haiti's equipment and service needs. Learn more about this both in a paper from SWANA and at WASTECON 2010.

The newest IGS News is available! Volume 26, No 2 from the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) is content loaded, with significant reports from the IGS' quadrenniel International Conference on Geosynthetics, international chapters, election results, and much more. The issue also includes results from the first IGS Photo Competition, an in memorium column about the late Bernard Myles, IGS Award 2010 winners, regional conference announcements, and numerous other items. Read the latest in PDF today. Learn more here.;

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today issued a new guide for improving the effectiveness of urban stormwater permits in the Chesapeake Bay watershed and the mid-Atlantic Region. The permits are issued by the states and EPA to local municipalities and other permit holders to control water pollution from runoff. The guide is being issued under President Obama's Executive Order for Protecting and Restoring the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.

The benefits of performing geoelectric leak location or liner integrity surveys (LIS) as the final stage of geomembrane liner construction quality assurance are well established. In fact, the NYS DEC, Division of Solid & Hazardous Materials is proposing regulatory changes to their solid waste management regulations that will apply the practice to the floor secondary (lower) liner of new landfill cells as well as to the primary (upper) liner. Read more about this growing movement.

Penton Media's 2010 Global Waste Management Symposium (GWMS), an international forum for the presentation of peer-reviewed applied and fundamental research and case studies on waste management, announces the Strategic and Media Partners for the event 3-6 October 2010 at the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort and Spa. The GWMS is proud to be supported by Penton Media's Waste Age Magazine, as well as media support from the following Media Partners to date….

The American Public Works Association (APWA) 2011 Sustainability in Public Works Conference and exhibition is accepting presentation proposals through 30 September 2010. The event location and dates have yet to be announced, but 2010's event in Minneapolis was a great success. APWA's sustainability initiatives include not just this event series but a new APWA Center for Sustainability. Learn more about the conference topics that intersect with geosynthetic practice. Learn more here.;

The Brazilian infrastructure market is expanding rapidly. Over the next three years, USD $500 billion is expected to be invested, both to keep pace with the country's growth and two major international sporting events (2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympic Games). These growth opportunities and more will be discussed at Terrapinn's Infrastructure Investment World Brazil 2010 conference, 31 August - 1 September 2010 in Rio de Janeiro. Key investors, developers, construction companies, government officials, development banks, and hedge and private equity funds will all be involved.

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.;

The Glendale Road landfill in Northampton, Massachusetts--last reported about on Geosynthetica in October 2009--is full. For months, operators and the city debating expanding it into a 50-acre area. But the site is located above an aquifer, and city officials have elected to have facility capped instead. A 2.5-acre portion of the expected 10 is to be tackled first. Learn more here.;

After two decades of environmental cleanup efforts, San Francisco's largest swath of undeveloped land is set to become a bustling residential and commercial center. The county Board of Supervisors has approved a project to develop the abandoned, 700-acre Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, a federal Superfund site on the southeast shoreline of the San Francisco Bay. Learn more here.;

A US House of Representatives panel has signed off on a bill allocating $882 million for a public-works project intended to overhaul the Trinity River waterfront in downtown Dallas. The cash -- almost double the amount originally set aside for the improvements -- would be used to raise levees, implement new erosion-control measures, and build or rehabilitate several pump stations. Learn more here.;

Early in July, a team of University of California, Davis, scientists rolled out a series of 100-foot by 10-foot rubber mats and spread them over a half acre of the bottom of Lake Tahoe in the vicinity of Round Hill Pines Beach and Marina, where Asian clam populations have grown in recent years. The barriers are a 45-millimeter thick pond liner that deprive organisms of oxygen. Allen was on the principal dive team responsible for rolling out the barriers. "It definitely wasn't easy," Tahoe biologist Brant Allen said. "I was pretty tired at the end of the day, but the UC Davis engineering team did a great job of making our job as easy as possible." Learn more here.;

Sika grew in all Regions in the first half-year of 2010 in terms adjusted for exchange rates. In emerging markets, double-digit growth rates were achieved throughout. With material costs initially still low and those for personnel reduced, operating profit increased considerably. For the second half-year the company anticipates sustained growth with rising material costs. In the first half-year of 2010, Group sales growth in local currency terms amounted to 6.7%. This includes an acquisition effect of 1.9%. Exchange rate fluctuations bore a negative effect of -1.1%, so that in comparison with the first half year of the year prior sales in Swiss francs grew by 5.6% from CHF 1982.9 million to CHF 2094.3 million.

Downoad Sika AG's Half Year Report 2010 in PDF.

Chenango Contracting is progressing steadily on geomembrane installation to cover a part of the Allegany County Landfill in Pennsylvania, as the site has reached capacity. Phase II of the work is to be done later this fall. After that, there will be one more section to cover up. County legislators have said the entire landfill could be at capacity in about four years. The county has some decisions to make about what to do with garbage after that. Learn more here.;

Just five years ago, the proposal for a beach erosion control district in Bridgehampton and Water Mill, New York was treated with suspicion and derision and rejected by the people who lived in the areas that were proposed for it. What a difference a few years, a few bad storms, and a different administration make. Now, an erosion control district may be on the near horizon, supported by a new tax plan. Learn more here.;

The Plastics Pipe Institute, Inc. (PPI) today announced that an analysis has been completed on the potential effects of disinfectants on potable water supply polyethylene (PE) pipe. The findings are now available to the industry in a report posted online. Commissioned by the PPI and The Alliance for PE Pipe, the study, conducted by Jana Laboratories, examines the various areas of a potable water system including chlorination, durability, oxidative aggressiveness, temperature and pressure/stress. Case studies of actual systems encompassing a range of operating conditions, scope of service and system life were also included. Ontario, Canada-based Jana Laboratories is a world-recognized authority on testing and evaluating the effects of disinfectants on pipe materials. Read more.

More than 1,100 U.S. counties -- a full one-third of all counties in the lower 48 states -- now face higher risks of water shortages by mid-century as the result of global warming, and more than 400 of these counties will be at extremely high risk for water shortages, based on estimates from a new report by Tetra Tech for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

When an electrical utility declined a more experienced geosynthetic design and instead chose a low-bid containment solution, the results proved to be unsatisfying both for the utility and the installer. Repeated with permission from Albarrie, "An Example of the Wrong Geosynthetics Deployed" provides a number of cautions. Geosynthetics provide effective solutions throughout the all sectors of civil engineering and construction; but each geosynthetic deployed must be matched appropriately to the application.

Technical Textiles International reports that research and development investments, including a significant amount with international partners, lies at the heart of the success of Garware Wall Ropes. In a profile article, Reena Mital finds that geotextiles, agriculture and fishing are the drivers in the Indian market. (Full article available to subscribers of TTI.) Learn more here.;

SKZ, with scientific committee support from Cemagref and the Geosynthetic Institute (GSI), will host the 3rd International Symposium on Geosynthetic Clay Liners (GBR-C 2k10) 15-16 September 2010 at the Fortress Marienberg in Würzburg, Germany. Technical sessions will address shear and mechanical behaviour of GCLs, chemical resistance of GCLs, testing of GCLs under unsaturated conditions, behaviour of GCLs in landfill covers (case studies), regulations, new concepts and developments in the use of GCLs, and GCLs for hydraulic and construction applications. Learn more.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking proposals for educational sessions at Brownfield 2011--the 14th National Brownfields Conference, scheduled for 3-5 April 2011 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia. The deadline for submitting proposals is 30 July 2010. The National Brownfields Conference is the largest, most comprehensive conference in the nation focused on cleaning up and redeveloping abandoned, underutilized, and potentially contaminated properties. Learn more here.;

ASTM International's Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has issued a work item, WK29716 - Standard Test Method for Determining the Integrity of Nonreinforced Geomembrane Seams Produced Using Thermo-Fusion Methods. This is a work item revision to existing standard D6392-08. Learn more here.;

The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) reports that Ed Kavazanjian, Ph.D., P.E., has been elected a Fellow of ASCE. This is the Society's second-highest membership grade, exceeded only by Honorary Members, and recognizes significant contributions to the civil engineering profession. Less than 5% of ASCE's membership has been awarded this title. This follows closely upon Dr. Kavazanjian's receipt of the Ralph B. Peck Award from ASCE in 2009. We congratulate him on this latest prestigious honor. Learn more here.;

Fort Detrick in Maryland touts itself as "a sustainable community of excellence." The Fort is now correcting some lingering environmental concerns with the installation of a geosynthetic capping system over some contaminated landfill cells. Learn more here.;