Erosion Control (BMP) Best Management Practices

Erosion Control measures have come a long way… especially in Colorado. In fact, most jurisdictions have devoted entire sections of their land development code to address erosion and sedimentation control. Erosion control can vary from simple measures such as silt fencing (used as a temporary barrier to control erosion and sediment on down hill or perimeter side of construction activities) and vehicle tracking control (essentially road base placed at the entrance to a job site to help remove and limit material that would otherwise be tracked off-site by equipment and vehicles) to more extensive (and expensive) measures. Through experience we’ve learned what BMP’s (Best Management Practices) particular jurisdictions like to see at a minimum and through our construction period inspections we’ve learned what BMP’s seem to stand the test of time during construction.

It is our job as professional engineers to understand how different BMP’s work and what BMP’s function best in different site conditions (ie.. mountain projects vs. city projects). We also always try to keep our client’s bottom line in mind when designing erosion control plans. With all of the new BMP’s out there today it is easy to spend thousands of extra dollars on erosion control measures without understanding the cost/benefit of each. In other words, sometimes the proper implementation and upkeep of a few critical BMP’s can be much more valuable then specifying 15 different BMP’s that are installed and applied incorrectly.

The Urban Drainage and Flood Control District (UDFCD) has an excellent section on erosion control here under “Construction BMP’s”:

UDFCD Volume III – Construction BMP’s

Feel free to contact EVstudio to answer any questions regarding erosion control BMP’s!

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