Silt fencing is a temporary barrier made of woven and designed to control or manage the flow of sediment in disturbed land, such as a construction sites or natural disaster areas such as fires or flooding.
Silt fence should be deployed until the activities disturbing the land are sufficiently completed to allow revegetation and permanent soil stabilization to begin.
Silt fence are used in specific situations with consideration given to slope, slope length, and the amount of drainage from which the fence will catch runoff.
Prefabricated silt fence should be used when possible to minimize installation labor requirements. An 8 inch deep trench is dug along the silt fence alignment. The silt fence is unrolled and stretched tight while the posts are driven at least 16 inches below the ground surface. Sections of silt fence shall be joined at a post by overlapping the geotextile 6 inches and wrapping it around the post before the post is driven. The wire shall be overlapped and wired to the post. After the silt fence is erected, the trench is backfilled and the backfill is tamped by wheel rolling with small equipment or foot traffic
The silt fence must be inspected after every runoff event. Any damage must be repaired immediately. Sediment and other debris must be removed from the upstream side of the fence when it accumulates to the extent that visible bulges develop in the silt fence. The silt fence shall be removed after vegetation or other permanent erosion control measures are installed and functional
