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Applications Slurry wall construction techniques were developed in the 1940's and 1950's. During the early years, they were used primarily as cutoff walls beneath large dam embankments and as barriers for dewatering projects. Today, slurry walls are commonly used as hydraulic barriers in dam foundations, reservoir perimeters, dewatering, and environmental projects. RMC and Hall-Irwin Construction teamed together to pioneer the use of slurry walls in the lining of gravel pits to form lined water storage reservoirs. Constructing a slurry wall liner around the perimeter of a gravel mine greatly reduces groundwater inflows during mining. This allows the pit to be mined in the dry with minimal dewatering. Savings in dewatering and permitting costs and increases in mining efficiency can often offset part or all of the cost of the slurry wall construction. When the mining of the site is complete, a lined reservoir exists ready for water storage. Slurry walls are also frequently used in environmental projects to contain a plume of contaminated groundwater. Surrounding a landfill or other contaminated site with a slurry wall limits mobility offsite. Isolating the contaminates helps facilitate their collection and treatment while preventing migration to down-gradient areas. Perimeter slurry wall liners, such as those surrounding a gravel pit reservoir or landfill, are best installed in one continuous application. This helps insure liner continuity avoiding the need to "key into" previously constructed wall sections. Trench depths can be excavated to approximately 38 feet with standard hydraulic excavators. Specially rigged hydraulic excavators have trenched as deep as 90 feet. Clam shell excavators, typically working in conjunction with hydraulic excavators, can excavate trenches in excess of 100 feet deep. SLURRY WALL\ CLAYSTONE BEDROCK APPROXIMATE ORIGINAL GROUND SURFACE NO SCALE TYPICAL SLURRY WALL LINED GRAVEL RESERVOIR r<[w+imw nni~[u- SLOPE SLOPE