Containment

The end of February saw the Global Water Footprint Standard published. Spain's government has already included water footprint assessment into policy, making it part of the process to develop river basin plans. Could the rest of Europe follow? Professor Arjen Hoekstra looks at the concepts of blue, green and grey water footprints. Learn more here.;

A two-decade-old cleanup project in Yakima, Washington is about to conclude. The former asphalt and concrete production area underwent significant soil removal and petroleum contamination remediation. A liner was installed and a relfection pond created. Now, a short pathway may be added to complete the site's recreational transformation. Learn more here.;

Cadwallder Technical Services now offers a training DVD, "How to Heat Seam and Test Geomembranes." The video demonstrates and discusses techniques of hot wedge welding, extrusion welding, hot air welding, destructive testing, and non-destructive testing; and it includes information relevant to all geomembrane materials and all forms of heat seaming and heat seaming equipment. Learn more. Learn more here.;

ASTM International has relaunched its website with nice new look. One of the most-welcomed additions to the update is a new navigation bar arrangement. With the vast amount of sectors ASTM's consensus-oriented standards committees are involved in--including our favorite, Committee D35 on Geosynthetics--the cleaner navigation tool is welcomed. Also of note, rotating news stories have been added to the front page, the site search tool has been improved, and the "My Committees" page has been streamlined. We encourage our readers to take a spin on the new ASTM website. Read more.

CQA Solutions, Ltd. (http://cqasolutions.co), a leader in containment construction quality assurance (CQA), is looking to expand our field services department in the Mining, Energy, Shale Gas, and Waste Containment...

The Truckee Canal's 2008 breach flooded Fernley, Nevada. Since then, western water conveyance technologies and the need for new designs have been debated. At a Truckee-Carson Irrigation District's (TCID) meeting this week, Misha Stojicevic, Storey County's capital improvements project manager, introduced the idea of geosynthetic lining systems instead of just a concrete barrier. Stojicevic also suggested TCID could get $4 million of funding for repairs from the state if it worked with Churchill County too. Learn more here.;

Applied Market Information's (AMI) 8th annual Polyethylene Films conference will take place 18-19 March 2010 in Daytona Beach, Florida. The event will include Resin 2 Revenue’s Blown Film Symposium. Preferable pricing is available through 24 September 2009. View the brochure in PDF for registration information and the call for presentations. Learn more here.;

Earlier this month, geosynthetica's role as a media partner to Penton Media's Global Waste Management Symposium was completed as the event unfolded in Copper Mountain, Colorado. It was a marvelous event that touched upon current and future practice through a shrewd mix of presentations from active engineering practices, on-going research, and academia. Also, the Geosynthetic Institute (GSI) arranged two fine session on the design, installation and monitoring of engineered berms--a much-needed and much-appreciated dialogue. Read more about the event in Chris Kelsey's review.

Applied Market Information (AMI) has released the program for Waterproof Membranes 2009, which will be held in Duesseldorf, Germany from 19-21 October 2009. On the geotechnical side of things, the speaker list includes Chris Kelsey of geosynthetica, Vladimir Nosko of Sensor, Gottfried Niederkrattenhaler of Agru Austria, Catrin Tarnowski from GSE, Roland von Ah of Leister, Jose Miguel Munoz Gomez of Sotrafa, and Stefan Ultsch of Dow (Europe). See the full list in the program PDF. Learn more here.;

The 6th European Conference on Geosynthetics (EuroGeo 6) will be held 25 – 28 September 2016 in Istanbul. With multiple IGS events having important deadlines in near proximity and other...

The Statesman reports that geotextile tubes are being installed along eroding shores in India on an experimental basis. One section of the test site will target eroding embankments in a 10 km stretch. If the project proves to be successful, similar schemes will be adopted elsewhere. Experts from numerous agencies contributed to the plan's design. Learn more here.;

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is recognizing eight landfill methane capture projects for their innovation in generating renewable energy and reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The winners include one of the largest landfill gas (LFG) to liquefied natural gas facilities in the world, located in Livermore, California. Read more about the awards and see a list of the winners.

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.

We've heard a great many calls for increased infrastructure spending in the United States. The ASCE scorecards on American infrastructure paint a pretty bleak picture, and we were reminded of that last year after a major bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota collapsed. The 2005 ASCE scorecard gave its highest marks to the waste management sector, in which geosynthetics are required. And earlier this year the Geosynthetic Materials Association (GMA) announced huge strides in working with Congressional legislators to have geosynthetics considered for requirement in other sectors, such as water management. Infrastructure was pushed higher in the public debate this morning with the publication of Paul Krugman's latest column in the New York Times. Krugman is the Princeton professor and Times columnist who was awarded this year's Nobel Prize for Economics. Regarding the ragged state of the American economy, Krugman argues for the need of government spending now. And he idenitifies infrastructure as one of the main, necessary targets. He writes: "The usual argument against public works as economic stimulus is that they take too long: by the time you get around to repairing that bridge and upgrading that rail line, the slump is over and the stimulus isn’t needed. Well, that argument has no force now....So let’s get those projects rolling." Read the rest of Krugman's op-ed column. Learn more here.;

The on-going fire in the Countrywide Landfill in Stark County, Ohio has generated considerable news and debate. While many have charged the landfill liner is failing, no one has presented evidence. Countrywide is now fighting against firebreak proposals, citing the lack of evidence for the liner's deterioration. Instead of a firebreak, the company is proposing a capping system and standing by the highly engineered lining system. Learn more here.;

Lack of fresh water is a concern for countries with growing populations and poor water infrastructure, such as India, Egypt and Ethiopia. Water withdrawals over the next 15 years ill increase by 50% in developing countries and 18% in developed countries, according to the Global Environment Outlook. More than 1 billion people worldwide do not have access to fresh water. Learn more here.;

The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) most recent newsletter focuses almost exclusively on the Global Plastics Environmental Conference (GPEC), the 2009 edition of which was held in Orlando, Florida in late February. Read about the issues that influenced this conference on sustainability and read the earliest promotions for GPEC 2010, which will be held 9-10 March 2010 in Orlando. Read the newsletter online in PDF. Learn more here.;

The geosynthetics field has lost one of its champions in the Americas. On April 8, consulting engineer and educator Rafael Rocha passed away. Rocha was a constant fixture at geosynthetics...

On Monday, 24 September, Deltares started a unique experiment with geotextile on the IJkdijk in Groningen on behalf of the Rivierenland Water Authority and with co-financing from the Room for the River program. A 15 m wide and 0.5 m long GeoDetect® filter and detection system, provided by TenCate, was positioned vertically in the clay layer of a test dike. The week-long test was engineered to see if this design approach could counteract piping. Sensors and water-pressure meters were used for monitoring. GeoDetect®, a unique sensor-enable geotextile, was developed to detect and interfere with internal erosion processes within hydraulic structures; but using it to deal with piping is an entirely new application. This latest experiment at the IJkdijk has shown for the first time in the field that geotextiles can actually stop piping.

A 10-acre landfill near Greenville, South Carolina is part of a long-awaited remedy to clean PCBs from Lake Hartwell. Dredging of 450,000 cubic yards of contaminated sediment will begin soon. The lining system installation is being completed right now as is site erosion control work. With its hilltop location, the tight timeline, and the unusually difficult weather, one project engineer has noted that it may become well-covered in publications as an exemplary PCB management project. Learn more here.;

From 8-10 June 2010, the American Public Works Association (APWA) will host a conference on sustainability in public works. The event will take place in Minneapolis, Minnesota (site of the 2005 APWA annual conference). And exhibit hall will be available at the conference hotel (the Hilton Minneapolis) and education sessions will focus on key issues such as low-impact development, measuring sustainable return on investment (ROI), selling sustainability politically, success stories, best practices, and much more. Learn more here.;

The Industrial Fabrics Association International's (IFAI) annual International Achievement Awards (IAA) competition is accepting submissions through 15 July 2010. Among the many entry categories you'll find "Geosynthetics." This year the competition is holding a drawing to award a free full registration to the 2010 IFAI Expo Americas (27-29 October 2010, Orlando, Florida), where IAA winners will be announced. Geosynthetica encourages you to look into this event and share your projects and experience with the larger technical textiles field. Visit the competition website to learn more about the awards and the benefits of the new electronic submission form. 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.;

The International Geosynthetics Society's Technical Committees on Soil Reinforcement (TC-R) and Barrier Systems (TC-B) will gather IGS members and affiliated geotechnical professionals in Barcelona 20 – 23 January 2020...

A suspiciously low bid, a committee selecting material based solely on the criterion of lowest proposed cost, and a geomembrane product that apparently does not match the project specifications: all issues being wrestled with on an expensive water resources and agriculture project in Indonesia. (Note: this article is in Indonesian.) Learn more here.;