Gravel Mining Safety

Obviously, the most unpleasant harm caused by gravel mining is the general erosion that results when the mining operation causes the slope of the stream channel to be steeper than it was before it got mined on. When a stream channel is made steeper, it causes the water to flow faster; and the quicker it flows, the greater amount of power it has to bring about erosion. In these circumstances, the bottom of the stream channel erodes away first, and then the stream banks fall in and wash away. If the gravel mine is a depression dug in the stream channel and the miner keeps on to taking gravel over a long period of time, the erosion can move far upstream and cause a great amount of property damage to a lot of streamside landowners. As a result of these potential problems, gravel should never be mined deeper than the water height at the time of removal. If the stream channel is dry, mining should not be carried out deeper than the height of the stream bottom at the site. If mining is not done too deeply, the natural slope of the channel will not become steeper, and the danger of serious erosion damage to neighbours will be reduced. Gravel should never be separated from riffles for the reason that breaking up the riffle menaces channel permanence and significant habitat for fish and other aquatic life. Gravel miners need to get their equipment through the stream corridor and into the stream channel, but the forested passageway along the length of the stream guards the waterways and, itself, needs to be safeguarded. This forested area slows erosion, filters an overload of nutrients and sediments, stumps potent flood flows and makes available essential surroundings for aquatic and terrestrial plants and animals. It also shields the waterway from other activities in the flood plain and watershed and maintains stream temperatures cooler with its shade. When mining gravel, uphold an uninterrupted barrier at least 50 feet wide at the top of the high bank and that runs for the length of the excavation site. You can put up access points from the high bank into the channel so as to ease erosion of both the access road and stream banks. Make sure you replant areas that have gotten disturbed for access after excavation is done. It's also vital to allow a twenty foot wide barrier from which mining apparatus is limited stuck between the mined area and stream bank vegetation. Maintaining mining equipment out of this area guarantees that the stream will not modify its route as a consequence of the mining. It will also stop eroded material from causing problems with silt downstream and will shelter the roots of plants that put off bank erosion.

Whenever you are mining in the gravel, never reposition or smooth down stream channels. Doing so can bring about unsteadiness that leads to too much erosion of the streambed and banks.