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� BMP C123: Plastic Covering <br />Puipose <br />Conditions of <br />Use <br />Plastic covering provides immediate, short-term erosion protection to <br />slopes and disturbed areas. ' <br />• Plastic covering may be used on disturbed areas that require cover <br />measures for less than 30 days, except as stated below. <br />• Plastic is particularly useful for protecting cut and fill slopes and <br />stockpiles. Note: The relatively rapid breakdown of most polyethylene <br />sheeting makes it unsuitable for long-term (greater than six months) <br />applications. <br />Clear plastic sheeting can be used over newly-seeded areas to create a <br />greenhouse effect and encourage grass growth if the hydroseed was <br />installed too late in the season to establish 75 percent grass cover, or if <br />the wet season started earlier than normal. Clear plastic should not be <br />used for this purpose during the summer months because the resulting <br />high temperatures can kill the grass. <br />. Due to rapid runoff caused by plastic sheeting, this method shall not be <br />used upslope of areas that might be adversely impacted by <br />concentrated runoff. Such areas include steep and/or unstable slopes. <br />• While plastic is inexpensive to purchase, the added cost of installation, <br />maintenance, removal, and disposal make this an expensive material, <br />up to $1.50-2.00 per square yard. <br />Whenever plastic is used to protect slopes, water collection measures <br />must be installed at the base of the slope. These measures include <br />plastic-covered berms, channels, and pipes used to covey clean <br />rainwater away from bare soil and disturbed areas. At no time is clean <br />runoff from a plastic covered slope to be mixed with dirty runoff from <br />a proj ect. <br />• Other uses for plastic include: <br />1. Temporary ditch liner; <br />2. Pond liner in temporary sediment pond; <br />3. Liner for bermed temporary fuel storage area if plastic is not <br />reactive to the type of fuel being stored; <br />4. Emergency slope protection during heavy rains; and, <br />5. Temporary drainpipe ("elephant trunk") used to direct water. <br />4-26 Volume 1! — Construction Stormwater Pollution Prevention February 2005 <br />