Avoid polluting ocean, streams and your neighborhood.Are you building a home? One frequent, though unintended, consequence of home construction is soil loss from the property during rainy weather. Not only do you lose potentially valuable soil, washed-off sediments can also pollute streams and the ocean… in addition to causing a big mess for your “downstream” neighbors.
You can use a sediment trap to help prevent this pollution. The traps let sediments settle out of storm water before the water leaves the site. These traps usually consist of a small pond, which can overflow over washed gravel. In addition, you can use compost berms, check dams made of straw bales, or gravel bags as barriers to help trap sediment. An engineer can help calculate the proper pond size if you need a higher level of protection for sensitive areas downstream.
In partnership with the state’s energy office, the Maui Weekly provides this feature to help Valley Isle homeowners conserve and protect water resources.