A Field Study of Silt Fence Installations Around the United States

摘要

This article describes a field study involving the inspection of randomly selected silt fence installations in an effort to provide data on the "state-of-practice" of silt fence installation. The data should provide potential users and specifiers of silt fence with the ability to make informed decisions about the typical quality of different silt fence installation methods. The field study was performed by TRI/Environmental, Inc, and included 56 sites in 12 states reflecting different soil types, different installation methods, and different hydraulic conditions. In general, the static slicing method of silt fence installation was found to provide more consistent results than common trenched installations. This consistency was manifested in more uniform silt fence fabric burial depth, substantially higher level of compaction of the soil adjacent to the buried fabric, and satisfactory performance. Conversely, trenched installations exhibited frequent inadequacy of both burial depth and soil compaction and, often, indications of being undermined by runoff.