Geosynthetics for Storage of Water in Agriculture

Farming uses more water than anything else. Around 70% of the world’s freshwater withdrawals go to agriculture (FAO AQUASTAT), so how farms store water, and how much of it they lose, matters. In the agricultural sector, lined ponds and covered reservoirs built with geosynthetics are one of the simplest ways to cut that loss.

Water is renewable but scarce. Of the roughly 1.39 billion cubic kilometres of water on Earth, less than 3% is freshwater, and more than two-thirds of that is locked in ice caps and glaciers (USGS). Overuse and pollution reduce what is left.

Because agriculture uses the most, storing irrigation water with minimal loss is where savings count. Geosynthetics help with water conservation, wastewater containment, keeping animal waste out of water sources, and reducing evaporation.

Challenges for Storage of Water in Agriculture:

Farmers in arid and drought-hit regions need to store water in reservoirs, ponds, canals or tanks to irrigate through the dry months.

Unlined ponds lose water by seepage into the soil, and concrete tanks lose it through cracks and joints. Open ponds and tanks also lose a large amount to evaporation.

The traditional alternative, a compacted clay lining, takes a long time to build, needs suitable clay and careful compaction, and gives no guarantee of being 100% watertight: clay cracks if it dries out. Factory-made geosynthetic clay liners avoid much of the construction time but still depend on staying hydrated and covered.

For these reasons, agricultural and environmental engineers increasingly line storage ponds with a geomembrane, and cover them with floating covers where evaporation is high, to cut both seepage and evaporation losses.

The solution, Ocean Geosynthetics:

Ocean Geosynthetics supplies lining systems for agricultural and drinking-water storage: ponds, dams, reservoirs and canals. It also offers floating covers that reduce evaporation and help keep the water clean.

Used as pond liners, Ocean geomembranes are impermeable and hold the water in. A geotextile underlay beneath the geomembrane protects it from sharp stones and from roots of plants and weeds, which would otherwise puncture the liner and let water seep into the ground. Ocean has lined farm and water-storage ponds of this kind at sites such as Amreli in Saurashtra, Gujarat.

The pond liners are made of HDPE and EPDM. HDPE resists UV and weather well in exposed use; EPDM is very flexible and follows irregular shapes. Either way the geomembrane is the waterproofing layer. Insulated floating covers reduce evaporation and keep the water temperature steadier.

Compared with compacted clay, a geosynthetic lining is quicker to install, more consistent and, on most sites, cheaper for the same level of watertightness.

Ocean Geosynthetics continues to develop water storage products for agriculture, including pond liners and floating covers. To choose a liner thickness and underlay for your pond, talk to our team about our geosynthetics products and materials.