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Stormwater Conservation Landscaping

One example of a LID strategy, termed conservation landscaping, preserves native species and provides wildlife habitat while also improving water quality. 

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Rain Gardens and Bioretention Areas

A rain garden, one example of a low-impact development strategy, is a planted shallow depression (the catchment area). 

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What are Disconnected Downspouts?

Downspout disconnection is a LID strategy that separates roof downspouts from their previous normal route – a piped system that enters the sanitary sewer system and/or discharges it onto impervious surfaces.

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Water Harvesting Stormwater

Water harvesting, a LID strategy, is the collection and storage of rainwater.

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Catch Basins for Stormwater

A catch basin, also known as a storm drain, is used to redirect water to prevent flooding. 

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Bioretention Basins and Retaining Ponds for Stormwater

Bioretention basins are another low-impact development strategy. 

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Stormwater or Rainwater Art

Stormwater management is not always pretty. In fact, many times, drainage ditches, culverts, and black pipes can be an eyesore. 

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Permeable Pavement for Stormwater and Rain

Permeable pavement, also referred to as porous concrete or pervious concrete, is a highly porous pavement that allows rainwater to pass through it and soak into the ground beneath it. 

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Impact Design Requirements of LID Stormwater Management

The main goal of low-impact design strategies is to distribute or scatter stormwater and urban runoff across developed sites.

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Stormwater Management Feature Location Considerations

There are considerations that need to be made for a stormwater management plan, such as the best locations for your stormwater management features. 

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Utilizing Undisturbed Areas in Stormwater Management

The preservation of undisturbed natural areas, as well as using them as buffers, is a principle that can be utilized.

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Other Types of Waste and Water Storage Pits for Hydraulic Fracturing

Processed water holding pits are far from the only ponds, and similar structures, on the hydraulic fracturing site.

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Renovating Existing Produced Water Pits with New Liners

If you have old, existing, produced water pits, you may wonder how much work and investment it would take to get them running again.

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Discharge vs Reuse for Produced Water

While all produced water requires some amount of storage, there’s a big difference in how the pits are designed if you plan to simply discharge the water rather than reusing it. 

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What Damages Produced Water Pit Liners?

All pit liners break down eventually, but some geomembranes are more durable than others.

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Risks from Produced Water Liner Leaks

Without a thorough understanding of the risks of produced water, it’s hard to motivate managers and maintenance teams to keep pits and ponds secure and well-kept. 

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The Challenges of Lining Produced Water Pits

Produced water pits have a tough job; holding back thousands to millions of gallons of wastewater. Considering that most mixtures also include abrasives sands and sludges that wear away at the liner over time, it’s a wonder that there aren’t more leaks and losses. 

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The Sources of Produced Water

Produced water can technically come from many sources, since the term is widely used for various types of industrial waste water. 

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Which Liners Work Best for Containing Produced Water?

All pits and ponds used for storing produced water, even temporarily, should be lined. 

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Tailings: When Things Go Wrong

Tailings ponds contain toxic materials that won’t ever go away, and yet they must survive earthquakes, erosion and intense weather events, perhaps for hundreds, or even thousands of years. 

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Tailings Pond Design

Site conditions, topography and environmental factors all play critical roles in determining the type and placement of a tailings storage facility. 

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Tailings Storage Options

At first blush, tailings ponds are fairly simple structures that hold tailings and enough water to cover them completely, which makes ponds one of the most cost-effective and widely used storage options. 

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So, what are Tailings?

The term tailings refers to the residue that’s left after the usable materials have been recovered. 

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How is Metal Extracted from Ore?

The first step in processing raw ore is reducing the rocks and various chunks to small, uniform sizes.

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History of Tailings Ponds

Mining and, indeed, ore processing have been around for thousands of years, with evidence of lead smelting discovered as early as 4000 BCE in the Fertile Crescent. 

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