About the research

Stormwater regulations require construction generated pollution to be controlled on-site prior to discharge to avoid impairment of receiving waterbodies. Sediment basins are stormwater detention practices commonly used to capture, and treat sediment-laden runoff prior to discharging from a construction site. Federal, state highway agencies, and environmental protection agencies have developed standardized guidance on the design of sediment basins, however further research is necessary to understand basin performance under various design conditions using large-scale testing techniques. This study details the design and construction of a 2,789 ft3, large-scale sediment basin at the Auburn University-Erosion and Sediment Control Facility (AU-ESCTF). A testing methodology and phased experimental regime were developed to allow for future testing of various sediment basin design configurations and high-rate lamella plate settler technology within the basin. Data collection efforts including: water quality, flow rates, basin stage levels, sediment deposition volumes, and sediment sampling for particle characterization will be used to evaluate the performance of various basin design configurations. This report also discusses results on preliminary research efforts evaluating sediment basin design configurations.