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    A new design to evaluate erosion and sediment control
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    Abstract:
    Water quality issues surrounding sediment movement related to forest operations are a focus in forest management. The forest road system is a primary area of concern related to sediment movement because roads are a component of most forest operations. Controlling sediment movement is a common objective in most forestry best management practices (BMPs). However, there is a lack of information documenting the effectiveness of prescribed practices in reducing sediment loads from forest road systems. This is primarily due to the complexity of assessing the effectiveness of erosion and sediment control, stormwater control, and BMPs in the forest setting. Consequently, little sediment transport and BMP effectiveness information or data are available. Monitoring designs for effective evaluations of erosion and sediment control practices are critical to further reductions in sediment contributed from forest roads. This paper presents general engineering design aspects involved in evaluating erosion control, sediment control, and BMPs on the forest landscape. The paper discusses considerations involved with the selection of monitoring equipment and structures based on design storm and costs. Statistical considerations in the selection of an experimental design to optimize data collection and increase the probability of statistically valid results are presented. In addition, an innovative study design (real world) and application to address sediment control BMP issues will be reported. This study was initiated on the Tallulah District of the Chattahoochee National Forest that aims to evaluate the effectiveness of three road sediment control treatments (alternative BMPs) settling basins, sediment basin with riser control, and hay bale barriers in filtering sediment laden storm runoff. The BMP effectiveness study design utilizes stormwater samplers, trapezoidal flumes, automated flow level devices, flow dividers, and runoff tipping buckets to evaluate sediment transport through sediment control treatments. This design has the potential to set standards for forest road sediment control evaluations.
    Keywords:
    Sediment control
    Forest road
    Erosion Control
    Sedimentary budget
    WEPP
    A report developed under EPA's Nationwide Urban Runoff Program (NURP) describes an analysis methodology and presents graphs and example computations to guide planning level evaluations and design decisions on two techniques for urban runoff quality control. This presentation provides a condensed summary of the analysis methodology, and an overview of the performance that can be expected from stormwater detention basins. The equations involved are solved for the range of values the controlling parameters can assume. Pertinent results are presented in a series of graphs which are then used to illustrate the general relationship between design size and performance. The presentation also includes a discussion of several issues relating to water quality ponds, including data on storm runoff settling velocities, the effect on the analysis of small storms that do not produce runoff, and use of the analysis method to size sediment forebays.
    Settling
    Urban runoff
    Citations (7)
    Stormwater regulations require construction-generated pollution to be controlled on-site prior to discharge to avoid impairment of receiving waterbodies. Sediment basins are stormwater detention practices commonly used to capture and treat sediment-laden runoff prior to discharging from a construction site. Federal and state highway and environmental protection agencies have developed standardized guidance on the design of sediment basins, however further research is necessary to understand basin performance under various design conditions using large-scale testing techniques. This study details the design and construction of a 79.0 m3 (2,790 ft3), large-scale sediment basin at the Auburn University Erosion and Sediment Control Testing Facility (AU-ESCTF). A testing methodology and phased experimental regime were developed to allow for future testing of various sediment basin design configurations and high-rate lamella plate settler technology within the basin. Data collection efforts including water quality, flow rates, basin stage levels, sediment deposition volumes, and sediment sampling for particle characterization will be used to evaluate the performance of various basin design configurations. Preliminary results from basin testing for the effectiveness of an excavated sump are presented to demonstrate the developed test method. Water-quality parameters revealed improvements ranging between 150 and 200 Nephelometric Turbidity Units (14.0–18.6%) when an excavated sump was included in the forebay of the system. Sediment collection showed that the improved system allowed for an additional 4.3% of sediment deposition by mass. This research effort and future testing results will allow practitioners to better understand the performance of current sediment basin designs and for providing operational improvements.
    Sediment control
    Retention basin
    Deposition
    Sump (aquarium)
    Understanding the impact of land use changes on nutrient and sediment loading from stormwater runoff to a water supply reservoir is the motivation for the study referenced in this chapter.Changes in the loading rate and the relative proportion of nutrients, e.g.nitrogen and phosphorus, can have important effects on eutrophication and algae production in the receiving water of the lake.Evaluation of stormwater runoff quantity and quality is performed for the 30.8 km 2 (11.9 mi 2 ) Rock Creek watershed located within the corporate limits of the City of Norman, OK.This watershed is part of the larger drainage area of Lake Thunderbird reservoir, which is operated by the Central Oklahoma Master Conservancy District and supplies drinking water to Norman and two other surrounding communities.The reservoir was constructed by the US Bureau of Reclamation in 1961-1965.The 2001 bathymetric survey determined Lake Thunderbird to have a maximum depth of 58 ft (17.7 m), mean depth of 15.4 ft (4.7 m), surface area of 5,439 acres (2,211 ha) and volume of 105,838 acre-feet (130,180,000 m 3 ).Excessive algae production leads to taste and odor complaints about the finished water product.Continuous simulation, using the physics-based distributed hydrologic model Vflo ™ , is used to identify runoff and loading rates for three development scenarios.Vflo ™ is a commercial model that has been available
    Low-impact development
    Citations (2)
    Permanent stormwater quality structures in developed urban areas require the use of smaller footprint or underground structures. This project investigated if an underground treatment structure made from off-the-shelf precast concrete sections would exhibit the required sediment removal efficiency and involve minimum maintenance. The project consisted of a literature review of small footprint and underground stormwater treatment devices, their cost, performance, and maintenance considerations; and a physical model study to test the principles to be employed and construction of a full-scale prototype for proving the concepts. Research results of conceptual models, physical models and part of the prototype are documented in the first project report entitled “The Development of Nonproprietary Underground Stormwater Quality Structures, Report Number FHWA/TX-07/0-4611-1. These results demonstrate that extended detention can be used to remove suspended solids from stormwater. It also shows that maintenance will be needed to sustain the overall level of performance (in terms of sediment removal). While the efficiency of the structure is around 75 percent removal, approximately 17 percent of the solids discharged can be attributed to resuspension. This report documents experiments conducted on the prototype in an attempt to optimize sediment removal efficiency by reducing sediment resuspension. Design and maintenance guidelines are included in this report. In summary, several refinements show promise in significantly reducing the resuspension loading, which could increase the overall efficiency to over 80 percent with maintenance intervals in excess of twelve months.
    Precast concrete
    Footprint
    Citations (0)
    A key design criterion of sustainable urban drainage systems is to mitigate urban stormwater pollution. Current research defines sustainable urban drainage systems (SuDS) pollutant treatment efficiency through the detention of total suspended solids, urban nutrients and heavy metal pollutants within the system during a design flow event, with research focusing on sand (>2 mm) sediment movement. The impact of multiple rainfall–runoff events on the fine sediment (<2 mm) treatment efficiency of SuDS is not yet well defined, and the temporal movement of detained sediment has not been investigated in detail. The field research presented in this paper addresses this research gap, monitoring ongoing fine sediment transport through a best-practice-designed SuDS network over 12 months through the use of a novel rare earth oxide trace methodology. Through time-stepped monitoring of the fine sediment pollution across three SuDS treatment trains (networks), the following key conclusions have been drawn. (1) That fine sediment becomes re-suspended and re-deposited within SuDS assets and the network as a result of ongoing multiple rainfall–runoff events. (2) That this re-suspension continues for over 52 weeks. (3) That by area, linear wetlands (within the monitored networks) outperform wetland and swale assets in multiple event fine sediment detention. And (4) that multiple event monitoring and analysis of fine sediment within a SuDS network highlights the under-performance of SuDS assets against current design event expectations.
    Swale
    Citations (21)
    Best management practices (BMPs) such as bioretentions, dry and wet ponds, porous pavement, and many other methods are widely used to reduce the runoff volume and the concentration of sediments and nutrients in the runoff. Numerical models are used to develop and assess water quality management plans that, among others, include BMPs. Those models need to take into account the BMP effectiveness to remove pollutants, being a function of the volume of daily runoff, in order to estimate their performance under a range of different climate scenarios. Circumventing the lack of monitoring data, this study used the Environmental Protection Agency's system for urban stormwater treatment and analysis integration model (SUSTAIN) to run 22 years (1984–2005) of runoff data from the Patuxent River (Maryland) through seven types of BMPs. It was found that BMP effectiveness decreases sooner, steeper, and deeper with increasing sizes of storm events than assumed in the Chesapeake Bay Phase 5 watershed model. At a minimum, the resulting performance curves should differentiate among BMPs.
    Bioretention
    Urban runoff
    Best practice
    Low-impact development
    A systematic approach to urban development through planning to maximize site potentials; control and reduce runoff, erosion and sediment; and derive maximum benefit from site resources.
    Citations (0)