"Wisdom begins in wonder" – Socrates
Construction Dewatering
07/25/25
“Why might we need to move water out of a construction site?”
Construction sites have to withstand all sorts of elements. If a construction site becomes inundated with too much water, then it can develop mold, develop structural issues, and face metal corrosion. Operators will need to remove water from the construction site, a process often called Construction Dewatering. Construction dewatering plans are essential to producing a feasible development project.
Landscape Grading
07/24/25
“How can we re-level the landscape to improve drainage and aesthetics?”
Landscapes vary in shape and size. Sometimes, their topography might make them more susceptible to creating flooding issues. One way to solve this is to re-level them through Landscape Grading. Landscape grading involves contouring the area to improve drainage and aesthetics. Landscape grading is another tool in the toolshed for landscape professionals all over the world.
How Southeast Utah’s Most Famous Monument Stays Up
07/23/25
“How does Southeast Utah’s most famous monument stay up?”
Southeast Utah has many beautiful sights to see. But one of the most breathtaking is the (perhaps not culturally respectfully named) “Mexican Hat” monument. This inverted sombrero-looking rock formation seems to defy gravity. How did this end up this way? Well, it’s actually pretty simple. The bottom support layer (made of shale and siltstone) erodes faster than the top layer (made of orange-red sandstone). While these were likely of more equal sizes in the past, over time, the bottom layer eroded more than the top layer, leading to the differences we see today. This is How Southeast Utah’s Most Famous Monument Stays Up.
Image credit: https://img.atlasobscura.com/
Soil Compaction
07/22/25
“What happens to soil when its particles are pressed together?”
Soil is one of the foundations of terrestrial life on Earth. Soil’s porosity allows for water infiltration and drainage. But when soil particles are crushed together, they lose much of their porosity, leading to worse drainage, which can stifle plant growth and increase stormwater runoff/soil erosion. This Soil Compaction is a major problem for agricultural and stormwater management and requires amelioration to minimize damage.
Water Quality Volume
07/21/25
“How do we classify the amount of stormfall runoff that we want to capture and clean?”
Stormwater runoff is infamous for carrying pollution to water bodies. Infrastructure operators will need to size the volume of stormwater they plan to hold and treat before releasing to the environment. But how can they do this? Well, we know that we will need to treat most storm events (let’s say 90 percent), but not all storm events, otherwise it would be too expensive. And we also know that we will need to treat a certain area that we’re designing for, and that a certain amount of runoff may get absorbed. Well, what if we were to combine these factors into a single variable? Well, this is the idea behind Water Quality Volume. Water quality volume is given by the equation WQV = R_V*P*A, where R_V is the volumetric runoff coefficient (the percentage of runoff that is generated by a single rain drop), P the 90th percentile rainfall depth, and A the area that’s drained.
Soil Erosion
07/20/25
“What processes uproot topsoil?”
Topsoil is the uppermost, highly biologically productive part of soil. Activities such as heavy wind, rainstorms, and construction can displace topsoil through Soil Erosion. Soil erosion is an important factor to look out for in stormwater pollution prevention plans.
Construction Stormwater Pollution Sources
07/19/25
“What are the sources of construction stormwater pollution?”
Construction projects uproot and compact soil, alter drainage patterns, and produce waste/hazardous materials. Construction managers need to watch out for these Construction Stormwater Pollution Sources in their stormwater pollution prevention plans.
Hydrologic Soil Groups
07/18/25
“How can we classify soils based on infiltration potential?”
Different soils will have different structures. Consequently, some soils will become saturated with water more quickly and become more vulnerable to runoff. We can classify these by Hydrologic Soil Groups, sorted from A (the highest infiltration/lowest runoff potential when thoroughly wet) to D (the lowest infiltration/highest runoff potential when thoroughly wet).
Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plans
07/17/25
“How can we make plans to prevent new construction from polluting stormwater runoff?”
Construction activities such as soil tillage, hazardous material storage, and waste disposal can create pollutants that are carried into water bodies by stormwater. This can turn into a major environmental and public health problem if no regulations exist. Thankfully, in the U.S, new construction projects are required to submit a Stormwater Pollution Prevention Plan by the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program established under the Clean Water Act. Stormwater pollution prevention plans must include a site map, construction sequencing of the expected activities, potential pollution sources, best management practices undertaken to prevent pollution discharge, and supporting hydrological calculations.
Isaac's Science Blog 