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- [Narrator] The Environmental Protection Agency requires
that construction sites use measures
to capture build related chemicals
and reduce sediment released into rivers and streams.
This sediment can impact water quality
and lead to an increased risk of flooding.
Working with the Texas A and M Transportation Institute,
the Texas Department of Transportation
researched sediment control devices
to determine their effectiveness
and evaluate a testing protocol for best practices
to be used on construction sites.
- For years, TxDOT had evaluated slope protection
and channel protection type products,
but sediment control products, for many years,
were just produced and marketed
based on manufacturer claims.
But TxDOT saw the need to put some science
and testing behind these products,
and that's what drove the need for testing.
- When we have to do roadway widening, regrading,
all of that kind of stuff,
that loose sediment can be picked up by wind.
It can also be picked up by water.
And when it ends up in the water in unnatural quantities,
it's considered a pollutant.
TxDOT construction projects are required
to implement stormwater management practices
to meet state and federal regulations.
So we wanted to really develop a scientifically measured
list of devices so people can make better choices
when designing the controls for the project.
- For this project, we designed a test protocol,
is the first thing,
and then we looked at a lot of different products
that the manufacturer sent us,
and the idea was to design a test method that could be used,
you know, for many years that would monitor
the effectiveness mainly of removing sediment,
but also of, you know, slowing down the velocity
of water as well.
A lot of the test systems that have been designed in the lab
before, there's never been a full scale system
that's been designed.
And this one, it was a lot more natural
because it recreates, you know, natural water flow,
natural runoff, natural sediment, you know that you've got
that it's occurring in the real world.
- TTI built that testing facility,
and so now there is a place where we can go
and get these measures tested that didn't exist before.
So that was a great outcome of the project.
And through that process of the research,
they established the testing protocols
that we can now use moving forward to collect more data
and build up, you know, the library of devices that we have.
- Out here, having the runways with it being
an old army air base, you know, that gave us
a real natural surface that worked for runoff.
And so what we were able to do is go toward the end of
one of these runways and design, basically, curb cuts,
drop inlets where water would flow off of the runway
into these devices.
And so it was a real natural setting
here at the the RELLIS campus.
Well, this research just goes right along with
the research we've done for 30 years with, you know,
slope protection, erosion control products,
and channel protection.
This is just the next step for, you know, products
that are designed to remove sediment from water
after it's already flowing.
And for years, you know, we've tried to hold soil in place
with different products that we've tested,
and now the next step is just to take water
that already has suspended solids and soil
and all sorts of different contaminants in it, and filter
and remove those contaminants.
And it's the next step in the process for TxDOT as well.
- The one thing that we need now
is just to continue testing more devices.
The ones that were tested as part of this research
was just the beginning, so we need to collect more data
so that we can get a better sample size.
And then from there, we'll start to figure out
how we can incorporate that data
into our day-to-day practices.
- [Narrator] For more information
and to find the publication for this project,
please visit the TxDOT Research Library
at the link shown below.