Portia Franz, EQPB executive officer said the Palau Erosion and Sediment Control Field Guide training for contractors and developers will be held on June 9-10 at the Palau Community College (PCC) Assembly Hall.
The seminar will focus on various proven successful E&SC practices that can be applied in Palau’s environment, on-the-field installation demonstrations, applying erosion controls on road projects as well as considerations during field inspections and project close-out. On the first day of the training, EQPB will release the first Palau Erosion and Sediment Control Field Guide. This field guide is a hands-on tool that can be used by designers, contractors and field inspectors to develop Erosion and Sediment Control Plans, conduct field inspections and project close-out.
Franz said the two-day training will be conducted in separate activities. The first day is a lecture and the other day is a practicing on the field.
“This training is part of EQPB’s continuing effort to provide guidance tools and standardized framework to aid with compliance of Palau’s environmental laws and regulations as required by the Environmental Quality Protection Act and EQPB’s Regulations. The development of these standardized tools and conducting the relevant trainings are critical steps for both EQPB and the contractors in their collaborated efforts to minimize erosion and sedimentation, while allowing development projects to proceed in our fragile environment”, Franz said in an interview.
Erosion related violations are the most common violations that come before the EQPB. Erosion and sedimentation problems occur due to improper installation of erosion control measures, ill-management of the erosion control measures once they are put in place, and more commonly, lack of knowledge as to the different kinds of erosion and sediment control (E&SC) practices and their installation that can be utilized to manage erosion and other run-offs from a project site. Whether it is unmanaged soil from a construction site or toxic pollutants such as oil in road drainage, these get deposited into our wetlands, streams, rivers, marine waters or into our ground water by way of infiltration or seepage. With Palau’s heavy rains and challenging soil properties, it is very important to utilize safeguards that will protect our vital water resources.
The Erosion and Sediment Control Training is the last of the workshops that were covered by the project. The first was the Storm water Management Workshop for Stakeholders that was held in March, 2009. This was followed by a Designer’s Training Workshop for the Palau Storm water Management Manual that was held from November 16-20, 2009. At this workshop, the EQPB released the Draft Palau Storm water Management Manual. This manual will be finalized at the end of this month with the final draft to be adopted and implemented by the EQPB.
Franz said the training is limited to 60 seats. For those interested can call or stop by at the EQPB office to register.
The registration deadline is on June 4 at 4:30 p.m.
