01623413

Component

Compost is widely used across the United States to control erosion and sediment. Different states have established a variety of methods for implementing compost based erosion and sedimentation control. To study the regional variance of compost methodologies for erosion and sediment control on the eastern United States, a total of 17 standards or manuals from the state agencies of the eastern United States were summarized and compared without consideration of consistency, precautions, and innovations of compost utilization among these states . The primary compost applications on the east coast are found to be compost filter socks, compost filter berms, compost blankets, and compost filter sock sediment traps. Comparison results show that compost is utilized predominantly in northeastern states rather than in the south or southeast. The parameters in compost material specifications present a similar trend among the eastern US. Regional variance exists in certain parameter requirements. For states not using compost as a measure to directly control erosion and sedimentation, amending soil characteristics by adding compost can still contribute to soil improvement, which indirectly reduces the possibility of potential erosion. It is recommended by this study that the standards/manuals used by Pennsylvania, New York, and Delaware be used as guidance for proper use of compost for erosion and sediment in eastern United States.

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AFP40 Standing Committee on Geo-Environmental Processes.

01618707

17-02025

English

14p

2017

Transportation Research Board 96th Annual Meeting

Digital/other

References; Tables

Compost; Erosion control; Sediments

East Coast (United States)

Environment; Highways

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2017 Paper #17-02025

TRIS, TRB, ATRI

Dec 8 2016 10:43AM