Dust Control

If you own property (something like a sand pit) and soil/sand/dust is blowing onto your neighbor’s property causing a nuisance for them, here’re some steps a quarry operator can take to reduce that. Note that a final solution is based on helping mother nature do her job faster.

This is a letter sent to an impacted neighbor by the ministry of environment.

Dear Lawrence (name changed, ed):

Further to our meeting, I received the
following update from the quarry operator regarding temporary and permanent solutions to dust impacts on your property 

from their adjacent pit–

1. Water truck applications are occurring daily at the pit as a short term solution.

2. Over the next week, they will cut down the lower
level of the pit to the water table. They will push their piles of white sand into the water hole, leaving the pit at the
water table level, which will allow the sand to remain moist at all-times. It’ll help eliminate the possibility of wind picking up the sand.

3. On the upper level of the pit, they will cover the sand with 10,000 lbs of a mix  from Pickseed Canada that is
best suited to this application, and apply the hydraulic mulch at a
heavier rate with adhesive added in. This will stop the dust problem
and will help germination of the seed. The plan is to have this long term solution
completed by the end of next week.

Regards,

Kay Straus (name changed, ed), Environmental Officer, Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change