Irrigation reservoir – Llanos de Mesa
- Project – Irrigation reservoir
- Location – Llanos de Mesa, San Juan de La Rambla, Tenerife
- Installation dates – March – August 2021
- Owner – Balten (Balsas de Tenerife), Organization under the authority of the Agriculture, Livestock and Fishery sector of the Island Council of Tenerife)
- Consultant/Engineer – Balten
- Installation company – Asfaltos y Obras Tafuriaste; Impermeabilizaciones Machado
- Type of works – Total re-waterproofing of the irrigation reservoir
- Products
- RENOLIT ALKORPLAN Hydro R F SST 00414 1.5 mm thick
- RENOLIT ALKORPLAN Hydro R SST 00414 1.5 mm thick
covering a total of 27,574 m2
Balten currently manages 21 reservoirs, 1,250 km of transport, adduction and distribution pipelines, 19 small diversion dams to collect surface waters, 3 wells for the collection of ground water, 1 water gallery and 3 desalination plants, all of which serve more than 9,500 users in the distribution of a volume reaching 23.4 hm3 as of October 2019.
The challenge
The Llanos de Mesa reservoir was waterproofed between 1986 and 1989 with a sheet from Aiscondel. After more than 30 years, this sheet has reached the end of its useful life.
The new sheet will have to last even longer, be resistant to microorganisms and UV rays which in the Canary Islands reach very high levels.
The reservoir is located at a height of 665 MASL and has a capacity of 175,000 m3.
The solution
To waterproof the reservoir’s slopes, the RENOLIT ALKORPLAN HYDRO R F SST 00414 geocomposite with SST coating technology which incorporates a 300gr/m2 geotextile polypropylene sheet on the reinforced geomembrane with polyester. This product increases the friction angle between the sheet and the geotextile, eliminating the interface with the geomembrane posed by the geotextile, which is installed as a floating cover. Similarly, it prevents the movement of the felt throughout the installation period and later caused by the wind.
Thanks to the high pigment content, the Solar Shield Technology (SST) coating, on the one hand limits the cycles of the rise and fall in temperature, thus increasing the life cycle of the sheet and, on other hand, acts as a barrier against the proliferation of microorganisms in submerged zones.
In the deepest part, RENOLIT ALKORPLAN HYDRO R SST 00414JS5 was the solution, a coated geomembrane with strengthened polyester reinforcement.
The result
The limitation of locations in which to place these infrastructures as well as the highly uneven terrain, requires the installations to be placed in basins with irregular geometries, steep slopes and in some cases with little scope for refinement. Additionally, the hours of exposure and high levels of UV radiation make the Canary Islands a perfect laboratory to test the materials to their limit. The Solar Shield Technology (SST) has a great deal to contribute to hydraulic works, with the aim of maximizing the life cycle of geomembranes and reducing the total cost to the owner.