Soil Loss Risk Assessment for Construction Applications

This poster presentation will provide a soil loss risk assessment for construction applications in the contiguous U.S. Areas prone to erosion can be identified early in site planning using soil loss modeling. This study integrated Geographic Information System with RUSLE to create soil loss models for (1) residential, (2) commercial, and (3) highway construction scenarios in the contiguous U.S. These three construction types were modeled in various locations throughout the country to assess erosive risk.
Construction related ground-disturbing activities leave exposed land susceptible to erosion and increase the risk of polluting adjacent waterbodies with sediment-laden discharge. State and federal regulations require stormwater pollution prevention plans to be implemented during construction to mitigate the impact of stormwater-runoff. Areas prone to erosion can be identified early in site planning using soil loss modeling. Identification of these critical areas could influence the design and placement of erosion and sediment control practices. The Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) can be applied to estimate the soil loss amount on construction sites in tonnes/ha/yr (tons/acre/yr) by considering rainfall erosivity (R), soil erodibility (K), length slope (LS), erosion control (C), and sediment control (P)-factors. Soil loss outputs were categorized into five risk tiers ranging from very low to very high. Southeastern states had the highest estimated soil loss during residential, commercial, and highway construction, reaching rates of 1,464, 706, and 1,302 tonnes/ha/yr (653, 315, and 581 tons/ac/yr), respectively. This study provides a customizable model for any site-specific slope length factor outside of the three construction scenarios modeled. The integration of GIS provides a unique opportunity to apply RUSLE across a larger landscape. The macro-scale data that can be used towards the design of erosion and sediment control practices.