Ok, why do more and more sediment ponds have some equipment (tanks, etc.) including an emergency generator??? Often this equipment will be accompanied by a vent from out of the ground, pointed down (like a cane). Is this for radon?
Why does it need an emergency generator???
Cane-like pipes are just vents. The curve is to keep
water out. It could be to keep methane from building up. In that case, the generator could be used to run a blower. Or it could just be a pressure equalization vent stack.
Is there any reason you think the emergency generator is directly related to the vent pipe?
Are you sure it is an emergency generator and not just a gas powered water pump ? Could the “cane” be connected to pipe running into the pond so that water can be pumped out of the pond and into another container or tanker truck ?
I’m not familiar with sediment ponds but my uncle has a fish farming business and unless you’re within spitting distance of his gas powered water pumps they look and sound just like an emergency generator.
Another possibility is that those cane shaped things may be access to test wells. I’ve seen something like that at a dump that was capped and needs to have periodic testing of local groundwater.
These all sound like logical explanations, but sediment ponds used to be designed without pumps. If it reaches a certain level, it would simply spill over into a nearby creek or man-made gulley…via a corrugated metal drain pipe.
Not sure why the need to go to such great added expense when gravity flow seems to have always worked fine.