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Sediment Pollution: Solving "Rill" Problems Using RECPs

by C. Joel Sprague, P.E., (M.ASCE), Senior engineer and technical director at TRI South Carolina�s laboratories., jsprague@tri-env.com,
James E. (Jay) Sprague, Llab director of TRI South Carolina�s laboratories., jesprague@tri-env.com,


Serial Information: Geo-Strata —Geo Institute of ASCE, 2021, Vol. 25, Issue 2, Pg. 64-70


Document Type: Feature article

Abstract: Sediment pollution causes an estimated $16 billion in environmental damage annually. Sediment is the most common pollutant in rivers, streams, lakes, and reservoirs, causing such negative effects as temperature changes, altered habitat, degraded wetlands, increased algae growth, depleted dissolved oxygen, increased turbidity, suffocated bottom-dwelling organisms, and abraded fish gills, to name a few. But natural erosion produces only 30 percent of the total sediment in the U.S. Accelerated erosion from human use of land accounts for the remaining 70 percent of all sediment pollution, and most concentrated sediment releases come from construction activities. Thus, it follows that most sediment is the result of construction-site erosion of disturbed slopes. Furthermore, to stop sediment pollution of our public water bodies, we must stop construction-site erosion.

Subject Headings: Sediment | Water pollution | Erosion | Pollution | Soil pollution | River and stream beds | Dissolved oxygen

 

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