In order to control erosion on a construction site, you must first understand the erosion process. Rainfall and the surface runoff of rainfall produces four main types of erosion on a construction site: Splash Erosion occurs when the raindrop impacts the bare soil surface and dislodges soil particles. Sheet Erosion occurs either after the surface of the soil is saturated or the rainfall exceeds the infiltration rate of the soil. Then the soil detached by splash erosion and the additional soil particles detached by runoff/overland flow move downslope. (Note: Splash and Sheet are sometimes referred to as Interrill Erosion ) Rill Erosion occurs when the sheet flow concentrates and causes small rills (about 1 inch deep) further eroding the soil surface. Gully Erosion occurs when runoff water in a rill detaches more soil and deepens and/or widens the channel to a significant size. (Note: There is no universally recognized dep...
2025 State Land Judging Contestants Tuscaloosa County Soil and Water Conservation District NRCS Alabama Alabama’s Soil and Water Conservation Districts (SWCDs) and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) have a long tradition of supporting FFA land judging—a hands-on competition that teaches students about soil, conservation, and land use. This year, Tuscaloosa County SWCD led efforts to host the 2025 Alabama State Land Judging Competition at the Tuscaloosa County School System Agriscience Teaching Farm. “We were thrilled when NRCS approached us about hosting,” said Dupree Galloway, Chairman of the Tuscaloosa County SWCD. “Supporting land judging helps us build stronger connections with local schools and students. It’s a natural extension of our mission to promote conservation education and youth engagement.” Tuscaloosa County SWCD coordinated the event —securing a site with diverse soils, ensuring the pits were dug, and managing logistics. They worked closely with partn...
A lot of construction projects require drainageways to cross under a road. We must always remember that there are many aquatic organisms that need to travel the drainageways even in intermittent streams. If your culvert outlet has just a minimal overfall, small aquatic animals will be blocked from their migratory paths needed for their lifecycle. If possible, think about using larger culverts that are properly placed to avoid overfalls, bottomless culverts which allow for the stream bottom to cross under the roadway, or even a small bridge. Alabama is number one in the nation in Freshwater Fish Biodiversity and we all should want to keep it that way. Perry L. Oakes, PE Erosion & Sediment Control Program Coordinator Alabama Soil and Water Conservation Committee
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