scope:

Purpose and scope

This Standard is intended to guide engineers and technicians in the planning, design, layout, construction and maintenance of water and sediment control basins (WASCOBs). These basins consist of an earth embankment with a level top section constructed across a watercourse or gulley to form a sediment trap and a water detention basin.

This Standard applies where gully erosion is a problem or there is a need to manage runoff leaving a site. The soils and site conditions must be suitable to build an earth embankment and the topography must provide adequate detention storage. The site must provide an adequate outlet either through an underground outlet (UGO) or by infiltration into the soil.

Water and sediment control basins differ from terraces in that they are not intended to control sheet and rill erosion. Used in combination with terraces, diversions, contouring, conservation cropping systems, conservation tillage, crop residue management, and/or permanent vegetation, they can be part of a resource management system to protect the soil and water resource base.