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<br />" Gravel Pit Makes Liabilities Into Assets <br /> <br /> <br />Page 1 of3 <br /> <br />A publication of James Informational Media, Inc. <br /> <br />The Magazine For Aggregates Professionals <br /> <br />I r-t .. <br />I r-1 - t-_ <br /> <br />I (Aiffitles ..) CUOkSm, {ClaSSified5;J ( .. News ... J (e::News) <br />II ,...., .. ." I {"ca1eiKlar J {SUliSCrilMfl { se3rcli 1 {CODmclOs1 <br /> <br />Click here for copyright permissions! <br />.~. MCoPd~ght 2006 James Informational <br />e la <br /> <br />Applications <br /> <br />June 2006 <br /> <br />Gravel Pit Makes Liabilities Into Assets <br /> <br />Constructing a slurry wall around three gravel pits <br />created much-needed water storage. <br /> <br />by Steven Schurman <br /> <br />In the past, mined out gravel pits that have filled with water have <br />been considered environmental and legal liabilities. But along the <br />Front Range of Colorado, gravel pits that once were liabilities are <br />now being converted - due to a lack of water storage capacity - to <br />valuable municipal water storage facilities. <br /> <br />To assist with the conversion of pit lakes and other water <br />impoundments into fully functional water storage facilities, s~ <br />walls are often being employed as subsurface hydrologic barrieJ:s. <br /> <br />Due to water rights issues (i.e., surface water rights vs. groundwater <br />rights, a physical barrier must be placed between the pit lake water <br />storage facility and the surrounding groundwater before a gravel pit <br />lake can be utilized as a surface water storage facility. To accomplish <br />this, slurry walls have been employed to create this hydrologic <br />barrier. <br /> <br />Undergoing conversion <br /> <br />Slurry walls are non-structural underground barriers that impede the <br />subsurface flow of groundwater. Generally, they are constructed <br />using the slurry trench method of construction where a 30- to 36- <br />inch-wide trench is excavated through gravel and into competent <br />bedrock. During excavation, the trench is filled with a bentonite clay <br /> <br /> <br />A 60-foot-wide slurry wall <br />platform is constructed by placing <br />more than 286,000 cubic yards of <br />fill in water ranging from 8 to 14 <br />feet in depth. The slurry wall was <br />later constructed through the <br />compacted fill dirt. <br /> <br /> <br />A dozer combines bentonite and <br />excavated soil on the mixing <br />platform located adjacent to the <br /> <br />file://X:\0290 f)~lt~ ~~nr1 ~ nr~:nTP1\(t1_{){),,)() D~t PV1"Vl.,C"~"~\U~p~__.."l~,,, D,,_=___'''______1 n~1 'T <br />