**Erosion Control Forum Blog**

Over the past century, runaway development has paved over forests, fields and wetlands across the country. Along with urbanization has come the problem of "urban stormwater" – rainwater that washes over dirty surfaces such as roads, buildings and lawns and becomes a major source of pollution in rivers, lakes and bays. While much has been achieved in the past 30 years to limit pollution from easily identifiable sources, such as watersheds, efforts to control pollution from these diffuse sources are still in their infancy. Although the Clean Water Act mandates stormwater control, local governments have been slow to respond. This report, however, focuses on runoff pollution from developed areas, which occurs when stormwater carries away a wide variety of contaminants as it runs across rooftops, roads, parking lots, baseball diamonds, construction sites, golf courses , lawns, and other surfaces in our cities and suburbs. The oily sheen on rainwater in roadside gutters is but on...

What is scour? Scour is the hole left behind when sediment (sand and rocks) is washed away from the bottom of a river. Although scour may occur at any time, scour action is especially strong during floods. Swiftly flowing water has more energy than calm water to lift and carry sediment down river What is involved in a bridge–site examination? A bridge–site examination for scour begins in the office of the Massachusetts Highway Department, where historical engineering information and bridge plans are reviewed. The examiner then visits the bridge site, walking upstream and downstream from the bridge and taking notes on the condition of the river channel. Other characteristics of the river are noted, such as locations of river bends near the bridge and what possible effects these may have on the bridge. Many things affecting scour are examined, such as the type of rock or sediment carried by the river and the angle at which the river flows toward and away from the bridge. Th...

Today (Feb.9, 2008), we added a reciprocal link to Online Stormwater Training This link may be found on our link page