Any Honduras based Geotechs here?

[studio13]

Just curious if there were any colleagues from Honduras that frequented the site. My chapter of Engineers Without Borders is working on a channel crossing project in a remote town near San Pedro Sula. I am not able to travel with the group next week for a site visit and they will be without a Geotechnical engineer to evaluate soils. I was curious if there is a university soils lab, etc... that might be willing to donate some basic geotechnical lab testing (sieve testing, atterberg limits, etc...) as it is against the law to transport soils into the US. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[dgillette]

Not exactly against the law, but requires permit from APHIS:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/plant_health/permits/organism/soil/index.shtml

They will want to know about disposal facilities, etc., and it probably makes more sense to get things tested there if you can. At least get your coworkers to photograph and write down everything in detail. Probably won't have drill holes to log, unless they are hand-dug.

Went through it some years ago to bring home jars of "red mud" = bauxite tailings with pH>12. APHIS conceded that with pH that high, we weren't likely to be importing anything living, so our normal disposal procedures would be OK.

Bon chance!

 

[studio13]

dgillette,

Thanks for the comments and clarification. They are there now, so we'll see what info they can bring back. I'm planning on going on the next trip so we'll make due with what we can.