NRCS Practice Standard: Pond Sealing or Lining, Compacted Soil Treatment (520)

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NRCS Practice Standard: Pond Sealing or Lining, Compacted Soil Treatment (520)

About the Company:

The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) is the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)’s primary private lands conservation agency. The NRCS helps producers protect and conserve natural resources on private lands through voluntary conservation programs. Through Practice Standards and technical guides, the NRCS provides information about the conservation, energy resources, and provides personalized advice to individual producers.

The NRCS’ Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) provides technical and financial assistance to producers as they implement NRCS Conservation Practice Standards.

Technical guides used in each field office are localized so that they apply specifically to the geographic area for which they are prepared. Thus, while national guidelines have been provided as a framework for each standard, each state has adopted and modified the conservation practice standards to suit their individual landscape.

To find a local NRCS Service center click here.

To find the specific guideline for each state click here.

About the Solution:

Pond Sealing or Lining, Compacted Soil Treatment (520)

Pond sealing or liner for a pond or waste storage impoundment constructed using compacted soil with or without soil amendments.

Practice Information

The purpose of this practice is to reduce seepage losses from impoundments constructed for water conservation and environmental protection.

This practice applies where in-place natural soils have excessive seepage rates, and an adequate quantity and type of soil suitable for constructing a compacted soil liner without amendments is available; or an adequate quantity and type of soil suitable for treatment with a soil dispersant or bentonite amendment is available for an amended soil liner. Alternatives to compacted clay liners should be considered for poor foundation conditions such as karstic bedrock, joints, and other discontinuities of the underlying bedrock.

Operation and maintenance required for this practice include operations necessary to prevent and/or repair damage to the compacted soil liner. This includes, but is not limited to, excluding animals and equipment from the treated area, and repairing damage to the liner occurring from erosion during initial filling to its original thickness and condition. Damage that might be caused by roots from trees and large shrubs should be prevented by removing such vegetation at first appearance.

Common Associated Practices

NRCS Conservation Practice Standard (CPS) Pond Sealing or Lining, Compacted Soil Treatment (Code 520) is commonly applied with other conservation practices such as:

  • Irrigation Reservoir (Code 436)
  • Pond (Code 378)
  • Waste Storage Facility (Code 313)
  • Waste Treatment Lagoon (Code 359)


  • To view the national NRCS standard for Pond Sealing or Lining, Compacted Soil Treatment please click here.

    Natural Resources Conservation Service, US Department of Agriculture 1400 Independence Ave., S.W. Washington, DC United States 1-833-ONE-USDA Visit Company Website

    Solution Type

    • General Support and Other

    Vendor

    • Others

    Product

    • Other

    To view additional information about this vendor, click below.

    Solution Strengths, Weaknesses and Critical Indicators

    NOTE: There are multiple technologies that are used as part of integrated manure management systems and yet are not manure management types on their own. The impact of these technologies on their own would be minimal or very difficult to quantify.

    General Support & Other:

    • Can be an integral part of many manure management systems
    • Most projects have at least some equipment that supports operations of the main technology
    • This technology is not evaluated on its own, the NEAT Matrix for this technology is neutral unless utilized with other technologies.

    Newtrient Comments/Opinions:

    Newtrient is using the USDA-NRCS conservation practice standards as tools to assist dairy producers in understanding the standards and how they can be used to address resources concerns.

    To establish a Practice Standard a system or practice must be thoroughly vetted, approved, and standardized by the USDA at the federal and state level. These conservation practices have been developed to address various environmental resource concerns. Newtrient has developed a 9-point scoring process for ranking additives, practices, services, and technologies for the dairy industry. Recognizing the rigorous approval procedure used during the development of the NRCS Practice Standards, many of them score very highly and are worthy of consideration on any dairy where they apply.

    The information provided here is a summary of the selected conservation practices. For up to date and detailed information related to the full Practice Standards, please see the USDA NRCS website, linked above.

    Newtrient 9-Point Scoring Rating

    View the Scoring Page

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