Erosion and Sediment Control Fails, and Alternatives

You’ve paid the engineer to design a stormwater pollution prevention plan, you’ve paid the supply company 1000’s of dollars for erosion and sediment control (ESC) devices, and you've paid for the installation of the ESC devices. So, why now are the regulatory agencies threatening to fine you? With over two decades of experience in inspecting land disturbance sites and providing technical assistance, Mr. Mueller will present photos of drastic best management practice (BMPs) failures and explain why they failed. The discussion will be related back to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Fact Sheet and EPA’s Construction General Permit requirements in Sections 2.1, 2.3, and 2.4. Photos will demonstrate what to look for during your site inspection to ensure that BMPs were installed correctly.

Areas of discussion will include: How BMPs have failed and why they failed. Then you will be presented with alternatives that may work better than the conventional BMPs. The overuse of fabric silt fence and the many ways it can be installed wrong. All too often the use of standard silt fence causes more problems than it is preventing. Several silt fence and perimeter protection alternatives will be shown. Straw bales are a quick and easy way to say you have ESC in place; the wrong and right way to use straw bales will be discussed. Inlet protection failures and alternative protection that may work will be illustrated. It will be shown why it so important to have the site and slopes stabilized. Proper entrance and exit installation alternatives will be shown. The proper use of sediment traps and designed sediment basins are discussed. And, pollution prevention in general will be discussed.