Harvest Scientific Services

Soil and Water Management

 

Harvest Scientific Services has extensive experience in the field of soil and water management and the preparation of Erosion and Sediment Control Plans (ESCP’s). An ESCP is necessary in most developments to mitigate against the potential of water action (including surface and groundwater) to impact the development proposal and its immediate surrounds both during the construction and operational phase. In addition, the plan is required to spell out what measures would need to be implemented to avoid, minimise, mitigate, offset, manage and/or monitor these potential impacts.

In general terms, most ESCP’s reference a number of key publications, including:

• Managing Urban Stormwater, Soils and Construction (the ‘Blue Book’), 3^rd Edition. NSW Department of Housing 1998.

The general objectives of ESCP's are set out below.

• To minimise erosion and sedimentation from all active and rehabilitated areas, thereby minimising sediment ingress into surrounding surface waters;
• To ensure the segregation of ‘dirty’ water from ‘clean’ water, and maximise the retention time of ‘dirty’ water such that any discharge from a development  site meets the relevant water-quality limits, including limits contained in relevant guidelines and any limits imposed by specific project approvals. ‘Dirty’ water is defined as surface runoff from disturbed catchments (e.g. active areas of disturbance, sand and soil stockpiles and rehabilitated areas (until stabilised)). ‘Clean’ water is defined as surface runoff from catchments that are undisturbed or relatively undisturbed by project-related activities and rehabilitated catchments;
• To minimise the volume of water discharged from the development site but, should the discharge of water prove necessary, ensure sufficient settlement time is provided prior to discharge, such that suspended sediment within the receiving waters meets the above objectives;
• To ensure sustainable long-term surface water features are established following rehabilitation of a development site, including implementation of an effective revegetation and maintenance program; and
• To monitor the effectiveness of surface water and sediment controls and to ensure all relevant surface-water quality criteria are met.

Harvest Scientific Services can assist developers in the design and implementation of an ESCP to the satisfaction of consent authorities such as Councils and State Government regulatory authorities.

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