Case Study: Enhancing Water Retention Efficiency in Jaipur with Ocean HDPE Liner 750 Micron (5,500 SQM)

Introduction: water storage in Rajasthan

Rajasthan is one of India’s most water-stressed states, with much of its area arid or semi-arid and per capita water availability well below the national average. Farms there depend on stored water, and an unlined pond in sandy soil loses much of it to seepage and evaporation. In 2025, an agro-industrial client based in Jaipur, Rajasthan worked with Ocean Non Wovens to build a water storage pond lined with Ocean HDPE Liner 750 Micron for irrigation water.

Why HDPE geomembranes for water storage

Ponds made with compacted soil or concrete often suffer from seepage, erosion and high maintenance. Geosynthetics, and HDPE geomembranes in particular, address these problems:

• Seepage prevention: HDPE has extremely low permeability and is effectively watertight once seams are welded and tested.
• UV and chemical resistance: carbon black protects the sheet from strong sunlight, and HDPE is unaffected by saline water and fertiliser residues.
• Durability: good tensile strength and puncture and stress-crack resistance give a service life of more than 20 years with proper installation.
• Flexibility: the sheet follows irregular pond shapes and tolerates moderate settlement without cracking.

HDPE liners are now a standard choice in water conservation work across India.

The Jaipur project

Scope of work: The client needed a pond to support year-round irrigation for over 100 acres of farmland. Rainfall is erratic and the region’s sandy soils drain quickly, so earlier unlined pond designs had not held water.

Material supplied: Ocean Non Wovens supplied 5,500 SQM of Ocean HDPE Liner 750 Micron, installed over a pre-excavated pond base.

Typical properties of 750 micron smooth HDPE: the values below are the GRI-GM13 minimums for a 0.75 mm sheet; request the batch test certificate for project-specific figures.

See the High-Density Polyethylene entry for background on the polymer.

Installation

• Base preparation: the pond bed was graded, compacted and cleared of sharp objects.
• Panel laying: sheets were unrolled with 150 mm overlaps and aligned with the wind direction to reduce uplift.
• Welding: double hot wedge welding for main seams, extrusion welding for T-joints.
• Quality assurance: air pressure testing of the wedge seams and spark testing to check seam integrity and puncture points.
• Protection layer: a geotextile cushion was laid under and over the liner.

Results

The Ocean HDPE Liner eliminated seepage loss from the pond, so the client can store and manage irrigation water far more effectively, with fewer pumping cycles needed to keep it topped up. A liner with a 20+ year life also costs less over its lifetime than a concrete-lined alternative.

Other practical points about HDPE pond liners

1. Smooth, cleanable surface

A smooth HDPE surface is easy to clean of silt and algae during dry-season maintenance, and it does not shed particles into the water.

2. Covered liners last longer

Covering the liner with soil or protecting it with geotextile, where the design allows, lowers its temperature and protects it from UV, which extends its life.

3. Resistance to root penetration

HDPE sheet resists root growth better than soil or clay linings, which helps on farm sites in rural Rajasthan, where acacia and neem grow close to ponds. Keep trees back from the pond edge regardless.

4. Ease of repair

Ocean supplies on-site repair kits and training so clients can patch damage quickly.

Before asking for quotes on a lined pond, see costing a geomembrane-lined pond for the full list of cost heads, a worked reservoir take-off and the places where budgets usually go wrong.

Why Ocean Non Wovens

Ocean Non Wovens manufactures HDPE geomembranes to international standards including ASTM, BIS and GRI-GM13, and supports clients from product selection and quantity estimation to on-site training and post-installation inspection. It supplies liners for farm ponds, industrial lagoons, landfill and canal lining projects. More projects are on the case studies page.

To plan a water storage pond, contact Ocean Non Wovens or see the product range at www.oceangeosynthetics.com.