Inis Environmental Consultants are continuing to act as Ecological Clerk of Works for an overhead grid connection cable for a wind farm in the west of Ireland.
The works monitored this week included the installation of concrete pole foundations, some of which were located near sensitive watercourses. In this scenario, therefore, we oversaw the implementation of specific measures for the protection of watercourses from works involving concrete. Water from concrete washout and cement based products are strongly alkaline due to lime content; this alkalinity can damage and kill aquatic life and aquatic habitats. Cement can also cause high sediment loads which can smother aquatic habitats and species that live on the bed of a receiving water body.
In more remote locations washing out was limited to a “chute only” washout whereby the contractor carries out a chute wash into a mobile bunded container.
