Flocculants and coagulants are vital tools used globally to improve water quality by removing harmful contaminants such as sediment, metals and excess nutrients. Industries such as stormwater, mining, agriculture, construction, drinking water, wastewater, and pond and lake management all rely on chemical flocculants and/or coagulants. Chemical treatments make it possible to remove suspended and dissolved contaminants efficiently and effectively...
Regardless of how long you’ve been in business or what position you hold, if you want to thrive in our or any industry, your understanding of market dynamics will determine your present and future success. As such, companies that really understand their markets are leaders who consistently explore the future, while excelling at, leveraging and exploiting the present.
They do...
When land disturbing activities occur, a great deal of sediment can be generated from rain and wind, but often, at some point, an attempt to stabilize the site with vegetation is undertaken. The success of this effort can depend on many factors, and this is the subject of two studies in very different locations and types of land disturbance.
The...
The blank slate of a new project can offer invaluable opportunities for innovative design and construction methods. The design and construction of the Water Replenishment District’s (WRD) Albert Robles Center for Water Recycling and Environmental Learning (ARC) (Figure 1) offered one such opportunity with regards to green infrastructure and stormwater management in particular. However, WRD has further maximized the...
The Western Sydney International (Nancy-Bird Walton) Airport (WSA) project is a rare greenfield opportunity for a new airport rather than a reconstruction or renovation of an existing airport. It is also one of the largest civil earthmoving projects in Australia’s history.
The airport will open in late 2026 and is projected to serve up to 10 million domestic and international...
Jim Spotts Devotes Career to Learning and Teaching All Things Soil
As a young boy with a lot of time on his hands, Jim Spotts learned a lot about soils in the wooded area near his home.
“I grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, and one day my friends and I decided to see how deep we needed to dig a hole...
There is no doubt that the global sea level is rising. The global mean sea level has risen 8 to 9 inches (21 to 24 cm) since 1880. The majority of that rise has occurred in the past 25 years.1
Climate change and the melting of glaciers and ice sheets are adding to the volume of water in the oceans1...
Road construction is a substantial disturbance of the terrestrial environment that may also impact stream water quality. Logging and clearing the right of way, blasting through rock and moving large quantities of earth all have the potential to transport sediment into streams increasing turbidity as well as reducing habitat quality for aquatic organisms. Water chemistry may be altered as...
By Judith M. Guido
The business world and our industry are always changing, and those who identify and leverage change before others do are often the winners and recognized as leaders. The others, either make excuses, or drift off and get lost in the sea of ambiguity. We have witnessed our society change from an agrarian to an industrial society,...
Topsoil, as defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary, is “surface soil usually including the organic layer in which plants have most of their roots and which the farmer turns over in plowing.”
While this rudimentary definition describes the most obvious use and location of topsoil, it does not account for the complex and dynamic ecosystem that is ubiquitous with healthy topsoil. Topsoil...
