Washington DC Vac Photo

Our vac crew got a little artsy in DC yesterday…

Maintenance Obligations

Many owners or property managers wonder what their maintenance responsibilities are and how they can be enforced by the regulatory authorities.  We happened upon this maintenance agreement on EPA’s website that is a “typical” maintenance agreement.  These agreements usually run with the land and allow the municipality to maintain or repair the facility if he owner refuses – often then having the power to assess the costs as an addition to the owners anual property tax.

Take a look at the sample agreement  here:

D2b-Ablemarle.pdf (application/pdf Object).

SWM Facility Embankment Repair – Barrel Relining

One of the exciting aspects of working in stormwater is coming up with unique ways to solve repair problems. At this site, the existing outfall pipe was corroding causing water to erode the soil along the outside of the pipe, a condition known as piping. Eventually, it caused a sinkhole that was visible from the surface. This condition can lead to a failure of the embankment with catastrophic results. Check out this video of a failure.

Positioning the new lining

Rather than dealing with the high cost and disturbance of replacing the entire pipe, we lined the corroding corrugated metal pipe (CMP) with a smooth walled HDPE pipe. The pipe we used was Snap-Tite manufactured by ISCO Industries. Made specifically for this purpose, this pipe actually improved the hydraulic performance of the barrel while significantly extending the lifecycle of the structure. The void between the two pipes was pumped with grout. Of course, the sinkhole was also repaired with compacted clay.

With our design/build approach, we reduced the owner’s cost significantly while accelerating the schedule.

Plastic shopping bags suck… why not ban them?

Plastic Bags Suck.

When we maintain stormwater management systems one of the most common things we find are plastic shopping bags.  The amount of bags that are in stormwater systems, and therefore streams and the natural environment is amazing.

Our friends at the Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper pose the question – why not ban them?  Especially if they can ban them in Mexico City.  Read Eliza’s post : Mexico City bans plastic bags… why can’t Baltimore? | Baltimore Harbor Waterkeeper.

Further surfing finds quite a few others pondering the question.  Here is something from Portland…  and there are many more out there….

• Will the US Government ban plastic shopping bags?
• Politicians Rethink Plastic Bag Tax Due to Recession
• San Francisco Bans Plastic Bags
• The Patron Saint of Plastic Bags

Maybe a federal move makes sense.  Hello?  President Obama?  How’s that new EPA shaping up?

Shopping Bags in an Underground SWM Facility

2008 dam failure debacle continues. TVA showing their true colors – the opposite of green.

The dam failure of 2008 is evolving into an environmental debacle.  TVA seems to be showing its true colors – which appear to be the opposite of green.  We have to wonder where the EPA is as TVA permits continuing pollution to occur.  Grey blood in the river….

Appalachian Voices and the Waterkeeper Alliance have paddled up to the site – check the video:

Maintenance of Stormwater BMPs | stormh2o.com

Stormwater Mag has a new article on SWM Maintenance.  Maintenance of Stormwater BMPs | stormh2o.com.    Much to be said on this topic….  It is amazing that millions (billions???) of dollars of infrastructure goes in the ground and a small portion of it is maintained. …  which results in increased pollution.  It is the hidden pollution source of stormwater.  Of course, we are a bit jaded, ’cause SWMaintenance is one of the things we do.

Dam Safety Gone Wrong

Incredible dam breach in Tenn.  This is why it is important to inspect, maintain, and repair earthen embankments.

See the aerial video here

Coolest Soil Erosion in NoVa

Our Stormwater Maintenance inspection crew happened upon this slope erosion in a stormwater management retention facility in Northern Virginia last month:

Nothing spectacular….  just another gully…  with some neat autumn foliage….

Until the zoom into the material that was eroding.  That’s about the coolest soil profile I’ve seen in awhile.  Amazing what nature has hidden for us out there….

Why should pipe joints by watertight?

It is all here:

http://www.wmtw.com/video/17144859/17144859

This is why we do Stormwater Management

An impressive series of video from Vice TV on the garbage patch in the middle of the Pacific.

It is all about PLASTICS. We pull a lot of it from stormwater facilities we maintain. Too bad the majority in the world is missed.

Twelve parts to this series, so it is a time committment. Start the story here.

Short on time? Skip to their arrival at the patch in part 9 here.