A soil management plan, also known as excavation is essential when it comes to any form of construction including building construction as well as underground pipeline work. Often, the soil may be contaminating especially in urban areas and according to government guidelines, soil testing/grading must be done, and depending on the result the contaminated soil must be removed before starting further work.
Importance of a Soil Management Plan
Soil quality within an urban environment often experiences enormous changes and impacts due to construction and landscaping. Hence, a soil management plan is of extreme importance to maintain soil quality and sustainability. Usually, the topsoil is considered to be very fertile and hence, environment specialists come up with a soil management plan so that the topsoil can be stored and reused somewhere else.
When undertaking a new construction plan including above-ground building work as well as underground pipeline work, it is a vital step to have such a plan and effectively implement it. This can help protect as well as preserve soil that may potentially be exposed to risk or damage. For example, as mentioned above, topsoil is usually fertile, especially in rural areas. Such fertile soil is a great resource that needs to be stored and reused where needed and hence soil management plan is a pre-requisite to any construction plan.
What Makes a Good Soil Management Plan?
Certain things are mandatory to be followed to have a good soil management plan. Some of these things include a supervisor with a clear designation of responsibility who will manage the whole process throughout the construction activity. The plan should include a map with a clear location of various types of topsoil, and subsoil as well as areas that are to be stripped.
The plan should have a document that includes all the methods to be used for stripping, stockpiling, respreading and improving the soil. To ensure the right procedure, topsoil stripping services should be used. This way the soil won’t be damaged and can be reused without any risk of contamination. Fixed haul routes and tracks should be decided and the workers should be asked to follow that to ensure the soil in the surrounding area is not damaged.
Topsoil & Subsoil Stripping
The surrounding area which is used by vehicles as well as the fixed haul routes needs topsoil stripping to avoid contaminating the soil. This is especially essential for routes and tracks from where heavy machinery passes. While in the case of subsoil, stripping is not necessary as it is not as fertile. But still, subsoil is essential to sustain underground water and hence subsoil stripping should be done in areas that can be heavily disturbed by construction and overhaul.
There are two things to be followed when topsoil and/or subsoil stripping is to be carried out. One of them is to use tracked machinery which can be done by hiring topsoil stripping services to ensure minimum damage. Another is to accomplish the soil management plan during dry weather.