Growing Interest in Sediment Stability

Glasgow-based marine consultants Partrac Ltd are seeing acontinued and rising interest in sediment stability instruments, the CohesiveStrength Meter (CSM).

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The company has recently processed five orders for the device, including WWF (Honduras), University of Buenos Aires, University of Antwerp, University of Tennessee and the US Department of Agriculture. It was no surprise to see the Belgians purchase units as they have significant sediment management issues with dredging and land reclamation activities, but Partrac was especially pleased to generate sales in Southern, Central and Northern America.

The company’s finance director Peter Wilson said, ‘Although the CSM was developed for use in marine and estuarine environments, the methodology and technology is transferable to other sedimentary environments. For instance, the CSM is increasingly being used in terrestrial soil erosion studies and in riverbank stability analyses, both here in the UK and in Central America.’

Partrac technical director Kevin Black recently visited the WWF and a multi-national agribusiness in Honduras to train scientists on the CSM with a view to helping them reduce their soil loss and consequential environmental impact.