The Erosion and Sediment Control (E&SC) industry has seen many changes over the past several decades in response to increased regulatory requirements. E&SC has gone from a “nice to have” typically at the completion of a project to an embedded requisite for regulatory compliance. Relevant technologies were initially developed to accomplish two interrelated objectives – erosion control and sediment control, in the context of compliance with landmark legislation including the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) Clean Water Act, National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) and other federal and regional regulatory provisions.
Early techniques such as straw bales and mulch have been gradually replaced by more sophisticated and effective technologies such as rolled and hydraulically-applied erosion control products, gabions and concrete block systems, silt fences, wattles, and fiber rolls, as well as tackifiers and polymeric emulsions for soil stabilization and dust control. Through the years many E&SC products have come and gone while others have persisted for several decades. While intentions during implementation may have been good, some techniques or practices may have fallen short in their contributions or perhaps even damaged the environment in the long run.
Our industry is constantly evolving to develop more effective materials and techniques to control erosion and sediment with growing sensitivity to their long-term impacts on Environment, Health and Safety (EHS). This provocative publication will provide historical perspective on development of the E&SC industry from its early days to the present while offering insight on manufacturing inputs for various materials, their performance attributes and their environmental legacy as they are assimilated into the natural environment. In a critical era of greater awareness of environmental preservation, climate change, greenhouse gas emissions as well as carbon footprints and carbon sequestration our industry can and should act as a model for other industries to emulate.
Learning Objectives:
As a result of reading this paper and attending the presentation the learner will gain a historical perspective of the erosion and sediment control industry.
As a result of reading this paper and attending the presentation the learner will gain insight into the evolution of production inputs and their performance attributes for various erosion and sediment control materials.
As a result of reading this paper and attending the presentation the learner will learn how manufacturing inputs can be analyzed and quantified as to their impacts and enduring legacies to the environment.
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