No easy answer

New laws and regulations in flux

Stopping erosion on a job site is like herding cats – there are myriad of ways to accomplish it but new rules and regulations pop up on a monthly basis that make most builder’s heads spin. Bottom line: Stopping erosion on your jobsite simply comes down to controlling the surface water runoff.

According to Ben Stores, who has worked with builders for a number of years on erosion issues, anytime you have a project site, you have to have a plan of what to do with water falling from the sky or groundwater, and how you’re going to control that and keep it from eroding the soil.

“The steeper the terrain, the more difficult it is to control erosion, because gravity makes the water pick up velocity,” Stores said. “The longer the slope, the more velocity. Volume and velocity can move boulders; you need to slow the velocity to prevent that from happening.”

One way to prevent erosion is to collect and distribute the water with a detention pond. Water hits the jobsite and is directed into the pond, where it is collected and held. “If it storms for three hours, you contain it,” Stores said. “The pond also helps remove sediment from the water.”

Shrubs and grass are another way to help slow down water. Native grasses and shrubs will also strip sediment from the water and act as landscaping.

If landscaping a project or planting grass isn’t an option, waddles are another solid way to prevent erosion. Depending on the slope, you could have 10 to 15 waddles, Stores said. The waddles are mesh nets, which are stretched out and filled with straw. The straw breaks the velocity and strips sediment from the water as it travels down the slope.

“Hydro-seed is another option,” said Stores. “It’s like a big burlap bag, it’s a brown mat, and [you] roll it out over the dirt. Every seam of the hydro-seed slows down the water velocity.”

Stores said hydro-seed, combined with waddles, can be a very effective erosion control method. Covering all exposed dirt on the jobsite with straw, depending on the slope, can be an effective—and cost-effective—way to battle erosion.

All of these methods work with the same idea in mind: Slow the water down and attempt to let the soil percolate, or soak up, as much of the water as possible.

But there’s one method, of course, that aims to avoid contact with water altogether. “The first and most powerful thing you can do to stop erosion is to cover your site and stop water from ever hitting it. Once the water has hit the site, you’re just chasing the problem you’ve created,” said Bill Kennedy, of SDG Consultants.

Codes change like the wind

When it comes to codes or restrictions builders need to know about erosion, they are much like existing building codes—they vary from state to state and county to county, and they are constantly changing.

Kennedy also believes builders can count on the codes for erosion control to get more strict.

“It’s (erosion control) like green building. People used to think it was a fad, but it’s here to stay,” said Kennedy.

Since jobsite runoff will eventually find its way into the local rivers and lakes, which will eventually find their way into the ocean, states will begin taking stricter steps toward preserving and protecting their local water supplies.