A wide range of erosion problems of varying scale and complexity lend themselves to a common solution: channel armoring, a practice that has evolved from simply lining degraded channels with piles of stone or blankets of concrete to include a broad assortment of materials and techniques.

The city of Houston, TX, has a long history of devastating floods going back to the first few years after it was established during the early 1800s. The reason is simple, says Heather Saucier, a spokesperson for the Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD), which encompasses Houston. She says the area is very flat and is laced with a network of meandering natural channels and very extensive flood plains that eventually drain to Galveston Bay. Receiving an annual average of 48 inches of rainfall, the shallow drainage depressions could fill quickly during severe storms and would frequently overflow to inundate nearby communities. Prior to flood prevention projects, the flat terrain, in many areas, provided the illusion of safety, only to reveal itself later, during heavy storms, to be an integral part of the extended floodplain causing havoc for businesses and residents located there.

Photo: HARRIS COUNTY FLOOD CONTROL DISTRICT Harris County’s Clodine Ditch before work began

To address these recurrent disasters, residents in the Houston area as early as the mid 1800s organized themselves to combat the flooding, culminating in the agency known today as the Harris County Flood Control District.

The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) joined the effort to coordinate the large-scale engineering necessary to the task. The activities of these two agencies, working either in concert or independently, include construction and maintenance of detention reservoirs and conveyance structures, widening and deepening key natural channels, and land purchases to expand the right of way for stormwater by restricting development in floodplains. Together, these activities are designed to facilitate the safe delivery of storm flows from the settled areas in the county out to Galveston Bay while minimizing the risk to life and property.

Building A Better Bayou
The shallow floodplain depressions throughout the Houston area, known locally as bayous, offer a degree of natural defense against flooding by temporarily detaining inrushing stormflows. However, it was recognized as far back as the 1980s that increases in stormwater, delivered from impervious cover accompanying urban growth and development, would soon outstrip the capacity of the existing bayou flood control layout.

During the 1980s, the USACE began drawing up plans for the renovation of Sims Bayou, representing one of the largest urban flood control projects in the United States to date. The plan would modify and enhance to the existing system to increase its capacity to detain and safely redirect the increases in stormwater projected with ongoing development in the watershed.

Mike DeMasi, USACE project engineer for the Sims Bayou project, says, “It started out with an old-school method. It was originally designed to be a concrete lined.” But for residents, that idea did not paint a pretty picture. Community groups asked the USACE to consider a more environmentally sensitive approach that might enhance the ecological function and be aesthetically pleasing, while performing its flood control function.

The Corps of Engineers took this community input under consideration. However, limitations on the width of the right of way that would be available to regulate the velocity and volume of potential stormflows constrained the options.

“We worked together and came up with the idea to design the bayou channel to be lined using articulated concrete block [ACB],” DeMasi says. “It came up to about the same flow as a concrete channel, although it pushed the right of way a bit.” The block would increase the flow over that of a dirt channel while at the same time resisting erosion of the streambed.

Because ACB comes in such a wide assortment of shapes and sizes, the USACE was able to try several different configurations of the material at various stages of the project, fine tuning their methods as they went.

Neil Tollas, general manager for Armortech, a division of Contech Construction Products, a leading manufacturer of articulated concrete block for channel armoring, explains, “Most of our hard armor has 20% open space to relieve hydrostatic pressure and allow for vegetation.” In general, he says, hard armoring requires very little maintenance and readily accommodates grasses and soft woods. According to Tollas, open-cell or closed-cell blocks, if properly installed, can provide strong protective armoring while allowing for revegetation of the streambanks and creek bed through the gaps in the cells. And that was exactly the effect the redesign endeavored to achieve.

By David C. Richardson
http://www.erosioncontrol.com/november-december-2011/method-every-season.aspx

But, he says, when the rocks are used for erosion control, they don’t quite work out, as the waves eventually wash the soil from between the rocks. With the loss of this foundation, “within 10 to 15 years they end up in the lake.” O’Connell says ShoreSox provide a viable alternative and help him solve three problems. First, financially they are much more economical. He says protecting a bank with coquina rocks now runs in the range of $125 per linear foot, while ShoreSox can be installed for $50 per foot. Second, unlike the rock, which degrades to a muddled gray brown after a few years, ShoreSox’s appearance can improve with age as it recruits native plants and integrates with the natural shoreline. And third, O’Connell says the product helps him get around a big logistical issue. In contrast to working with stones 1 in foot diameter or larger, which require a utility vehicle to haul up to the bank, with ShoreSox he is able to carry in all of his material by hand, avoiding injury to some of the “very nice lawns” his customers maintain in the upscale lakefront communities.

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By David C. Richardson  of Erosioncontrol.com
http://www.erosioncontrol.com/november-december-2011/method-every-season-4.aspx

Industry – Over the past 7 years the growth of the erosion control industry has been unprecedented. It is becoming one of the fastest growing industries in the American economy today. ShoreSox having started research, development and testing 8 years ago in 2000, is strategically positioned to be a leader in the industry during it’s most aggressive period of growth. Working within government regulations and the permitting process, where installed, ShoreSox has already become an accepted solution the for natural erosion control. In fact as of the date of this writing, ShoreSox has never been refused a permit by local governing bodies.

b) ShoreSox has documented research through Florida Gulf Coast
University verifying the filtration of phosphates, nitrates and containments
thus demonstrating ShoreSox Systems modules superior containment abilities in
restricting these pollutants from entering our lakes, rivers and wetlands. ShoreSox Systems has also demonstrated our exclusive water wicking
and retaining abilities for supporting vegetation in fluctuating water
levels. Laboratory tests and results were done by Lee county labs.

c) ShoreSox Systems has a safe and
effective anchoring and tensioning system (patent pending) that secures
the ShoreSox modules and allows for below grade attachment. This system has
demonstrated superior abilities even under ice heaving, and severe storms. The
ShoreSox anchoring system allows you to retention where ever it may be necessary
with nominal effort.

d) ShoreSox Systems has a modular “Lego” system (patent
pending) that is an entirely enclosed system utilizing a photo degradable mesh
with a 5 year degrade time that prevents organics from
prematurely degrading and polluting the water.

e) ShoreSox Systems installation process requires no heavy equipment thus protecting the pre-existing
environment with no collateral damage.

f) ShoreSox Systems has a patent pending on our exclusive use
of cornstalk fiber for organics in bio-engineering. This has created an additional cash crop to our American farmers rather than using
imported coconut coir. Corn stalk fibers are safe to our delicate eco
system, The FDA and several Universities have documented studies and research on
corn products as it is a human consumed food. Cornstalk is regarded as having a
superior degrade period both complying and exceeding the
Midwestern Department of Natural Resources stipulations of a 36 month
minimum organic degrade period for proper vegetative development and
integration.

g) ShoreSox Systems currently has a 100 ft test plot on a
hurricane damaged canal in West Palm Beach, Florida through the South Florida
Water Management Department. ShoreSox systems has installations on professional
Golf Courses, and is on many private and public waterways ShoreSox Systems has
been involved in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Florida and Alaska.

h) A Professor from Florida Gulf Coast University has
established 3 other government agencies to continue
researching ShoreSox Systems, specifically in utilizing alternative
organics i.e. malaluca, sugar cane within the containment modules.

i) ShoreSox Systems been featured on MN Bound program as well
as KSTP channel 5 news. ShoreSox Systems has been the subject of many newspaper
articles. In the September issue of Land and Water Magazine, ShoreSox Systems is
being featured for hillside management. This article pertains to the “living
systems” approach. ShoreSox Systems.

j) ShoreSox Systems has permission from the Wisconsin
Department of Natural Resources and the Minnehaha Creek Watershed District for
researching a shore bank erosion control mat. This product will provide an
ability to create vegetative development for aquatic and
native plants where rock rip rap has already been installed.