THE SILT FENCE: KEEPING SEDIMENT WHERE IT BELONGS: Enhancing the design of silt fence sediment barriers used highway construction.

摘要: Managing stormwater to protect the Nation's waters is a common challenge of highway construction sites. Most water quality problems in lakes and rivers are the result, in part, of stormwater runoff. Typically, grading and earth-disturbing activities during construction require removal of vegetation that dissipates raindrop energy and filters and controls stormwater pollution. Construction grading and earth disturbance leave areas of land susceptible to rainfall-induced soil erosion caused when raindrops fall directly on the soil surface and dislodge soil particles. These dislodged soil particles are suspended in stormwater runoff and may carry fertilizer, pesticide residue, and other chemicals that are detrimental to aquatic life. While erosion is a naturally occurring process, construction exacerbates erosion rates. Erosion rates on construction sites can be as high as 500 tons (454 metric tons) per acre per year, rates which …