Each change of season presents its own set of challenges on construction sites. As the weather begins to get warmer in late winter and early spring, melting snow runoff can lead to issues on your site and must be addressed.
Depending on where you are in the country, snow and ice can pile up over the course of several weeks or months at a time during the winter. This creates a large volume of frozen water in one place.
When the weather warms and rains come, that water is released into the environment in the form of snowmelt runoff. While there are periods over the course of winter where it’s warm enough for patches of snow to melt, the larger spring melt tends to contribute more runoff due to a larger amount of snow melting in a shorter period of time. This means late winter is a critical time to prepare your site.
As a result of periodic melting and rain events the late winter, the ground is thoroughly saturated. This causes higher volumes of runoff because the ground can’t hold any additional water. Even small rain events, coupled with melting snow, will cause larger volumes of water to run off of your site and can potentially produce greater erosion on your sites.
Additionally, BMPs (Best Management Practices) like silt fence or straw wattle can be damaged by winter weather by piling snow and plowing. Most BMPs, both biodegradable and photodegradable, will likely need to be replaced after winter. CORE Erosion Control’s CORE filter socks make an excellent replacement for damaged BMPs.
CORE Filter Socks also allow for greater flow-through rates than silt fence or straw wattle while also capturing more sediment. This means that the water leaving your site is far more likely to be in compliance. This also means that you will have to spend less time and money on maintaining BMPs.
Being aware of runoff issues associated with snowmelt can help you mitigate their effects on your project’s site.