New Textbook Features Turbidity Curtain Information from GEI Works

Outskirts Press has published a textbook entitled “Erosion Control and Land Restoration,” a compilation of materials designed to educate students and erosion-remediation professionals. GEI Works, Inc. provided the content for Chapter 12: “Design and implementation of turbidity curtains.”

Fighting desertification

The paperback book is the product of its compiler, Pablo A. Garcia-Chevesich, Ph.D. The Chilean native has dedicated his life to fighting the encroachment of global desertification. Garcia-Chevesich is a U.S. Ambassador for UNESCO’s International Sediment Initiative and a board member of the International Erosion Control Association (Western Chapter). He sounds the clarion alarm in his book, pointing out that the world loses 36 football fields’ worth of land to soil erosion every 60 seconds. Some of that loss, he asserts, is permanent. The answer to this growing problem is for people to manage land properly and return the eroded acreage to its normal state when possible.

Accordingly, the book contains chapters about hydrology and storm runoff, soil erosion, and the various methods of resisting desertification.

Turbidity and turbidity curtains

Chapter 12 starts off with a basic definition of turbidity, then advances to more of a technical treatment of remediation tactics. Turbidity becomes a problem when there is an excess of total suspended solids in the water. As the chapter states, “Turbidity strongly affects water quality and, as a consequence, aquatic and terrestrial organisms. Evidence of the negative impacts of high turbidity in the past decades has been a major factor in U.S. environmental resources protection …” (p. 149).

A correctly deployed turbidity curtain promotes government compliance, prevention of fines and shutdowns, and protection of natural habitats.
 
Types and accessories

The chapter also details the different turbidity curtains used in various conditions:

• Type 1 curtain, designed for calm water
• Type 2 curtain, designed for slow-moving water
• Type 3 curtain, designed for fast-moving water
• Barge curtain, “a localized and specific turbidity control system designed to keep displaced sediment and solids contained during barge dredging operations” (p. 153).

The chapter includes an outline of the curtain system’s various elements: for example, floatation, tension cable, fabric, ballast, and reefing lines, anchor kits, and lights. The reader will also find information and instruction about installation, deployment, retrieval, maintenance, and inspection.

Book proceeds help the cause

The book is available in both English and Spanish. Proceeds from purchases of “Erosion Control and Land Restoration” go to SOIL Fund of the International Erosion Control Association. The fund promotes the science of erosion and sediment control, and works to improve lives adversely affected by erosion and sedimentation.

“Erosion Control and Land Restoration” is available on Amazon.com here.