Stockpiling material on sites

Make sure there are no unprotected stockpiles of dirt and material on your construction site to help prevent silt and sediment run-off.

Locate stockpiled material to prevent run-off

There must be no unprotected stockpiles located to the front of sites adjacent to footpaths and roads.   This is because without silt fences, or some other means of erosion protection, these stockpiles will likely erode and deposit their material onto the footpaths and roads, and result in sediment getting into the stormwater drains.

All effort should be made to located stockpiles in the middle of sites, with a grass/vegetation buffer left around the perimeter of stockpiles.

If the stockpiles do not have vegetation/grass border around them, sediment will likely erode off these and therefore further protection will be required. One such measure could be a small silt fences around the lowest portion of the stockpile.

Stockpiles must not be stored on adjoining sites if you do not have express permission of the owner to do so. Therefore thought needs to be given as to where the cut material is going to go, before cutting.

The following photos show examples of acceptable and unacceptable stockpiling methods.

stock piling materials onsite, silt 2023

The stockpiling on footpaths as shown in this picture is not acceptable.


stockpile, silt and sediment

This is a good example of a stockpile protected by a silt fence. 


Stockpile, silt and sediment 1


A grass perimeter around a stockpile acts as an acceptable mitigation buffer to stop sediment getting into the stormwater drains.