engleski

Watershed Erosion and Sediment Yield During Construction Activities

Soil erosion problems on construction sites and resulted transport of sediment downstream the watershed, as well as, its final settling are comprised within this paper. Negative aspects of such processes are primary manifested through sediment buildup in downstream area and its influence on disturbance of natural biological balance in nearby water bodies and on surface area. Strong correlation between the volume of earth works and generating quantities of suspended sediment puts the highway construction sites under special concern. Extensive highway network development in Croatia during the last few years has witnessed that little or no attention's been given to this problem. Since new highway directions are planned and overall process of large surface area disturbance hasn't been finished, implementation of sophisticated and well-known best management practices (BMPs) in erosion control should be considered. The importance of implementing such practices was shown on the case of highway “ Istarski Ipsilon” located in the middle-southern Istra region (Croatia). Due to the world-wide acceptance, Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE) was used to estimate the degree of soil loss. Investigation results emphasize that good after construction maintenance program is also one of the essential elements in reducing the erosion rate of the soil and avoiding downstream problems with sediment deposition. The problems concerning additional expenses for erosion control measures and their descriptive comparison with damages resulted from plugging the drainage lines, constant loosing of hydraulic capacity in pertinent separators (grit and grease chambers) and lagoons as well as the reduction in their treatment efficiency were also implied. This paper proposes systematic approach concerning soil loss prediction together with different measures to control surface erosion and transport of sediment.

erosion; sedimentation; highway construction; BMP's

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