RYERSON UNIVERSITY

Department of Civil Engineering

CVL 300: ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND IMPACT ANALYSIS

Tutorial #2

Suppose you are a construction engineer who will build a new bridge over a watercourse in
northern Ontario. The watercourse is a second order stream with a channel width about 10
meters and a dry weather water depth of about 0.5 meter. Riparian vegetation on both sides of
the channel provide shading and food for the aquatic species. According to the Ministry of
Natural Resources, it is a cold water stream for fish and the spawning season is the month of
July. According to the design drawings, it is a high span concrete bridge with footings on each
side of the watercourse. You will use heavy equipment to do excavation for the footings while
the excavated materials will be temporarily stored on the top of the bank and be removed from
site later. The footing construction should be completed in about 2 weeks while the rest of the
bridge should be finished in about three months. During construction, there will be construction
vehicles and workers crossing the stream. You are to prepare a plan to minimize the
environment impacts on the streams and surrounding. List and explain what you will address in
this plan.

Listed below are the items that you may propose:

1. Temporary diversion of the stream to allow fish passageway
Construction will cause disturbances to fish migration. One option is to create a
temporary diversion channel to lead the stream away from the bridge construction
area. The diversion channel should be constructed to mimic the natural bedding of
the existing stream. There will be some removal of riparian vegetation to make way
for this temporary diversion channel.
2. Minimization of the destruction of riparian vegetation due to vehicles and workers
As vehicles and workers will cause destruction of riparian vegetation and erosion, a
temporary pathway with adequate bearing capacity may be constructed to allow
vehicles and workers to move through the site.
3. Erosion and sediment control during construction
Since excavation of footing and other construction activities will remove vegetation
and expose soil for erosion, it is important that erosion measures (e.g. temporary
covers) and sediment control measures (e.g. silt fences and sediment traps) be used to
reduce erosion and trap eroded materials from leaving the construction area. The
excavated materials at the top of bank should be removed from site as soon as
possible. Temporary covers over the excavated materials may be needed during
inclement weather.
4. Spill prevention and control
Refueling of vehicles or equipment should be away from the construction site at a
control area. Absorbent and boom should be available to stop spilled oil from
leaving this control area.
5. Active construction should be scheduled to minimize the impact on fish spawning
 As July is the spawning month, heavy construction should not be scheduled over this
period of time.
6. On-site waste management
It is important that solid wastes be collected properly to prevent garbage from
affecting local wildlife.