Reservoirs and canals

Reservoirs and canals are essential water management assets which constitute vital parts of our built environment, providing us with drinking water, supporting irrigation as well as preservation and recreation. They are also widely used structures in the industrial, mining and energy sectors.

Building solutions

The Reinforced Earth® MSE technique is a tested solution for building basin containment for reservoirs. Building a vertical Reinforced Earth® wall or steep slope structure will dramatically reduce the volume of backfilling materials when compared with a traditional profile. Vertical facings allow to reduce the wave run up, damage to the lining and evaporation.

Our acclaimed design approach verifies internal and external stability, soil suitability, and can incorporate impervious barriers as well as the necessary permeability and erosion control aspects.

ArmaGreen® and ArmaStone® solutions are adapted to cases for which steep slopes are considered and provide an aesthetically pleasing appearance to satisfy the requirements of the local community.

For sites which require to build in cut rather than in fill conditions, our precast concrete solutions TechWall™ and T-Wall®, can provide an adequate answer.

Protecting and preserving

When the reservoir or canal sides are sloped, the surface and internal stabilities of the banks must be guaranteed. In mild flow conditions, TerraGreen® rolled erosion solutions allow for surface stability and vegetation growth.

In more agressive conditions, TechRevetment™ formed concrete mattresses provide solutions to a wide array of hydraulic conditions and site requirements such as vegetation growth. Uniform section mattresses presenting a low coefficient of rugosity which reduces head losses are particularly well adapted to canals lining.

TerraAnchor™ soil anchors will provide anchorage of the erosion protection layers and ensure the internal stabililty of the banks. As for all geotechnical hydraulic structures, geotextiles are essential components for separation and filtration purposes. Our TerraTextile™ range of products addresses these issues.

Waterproofing

Our Reinforced Earth®, T-Wall® and TechWall™ retaining walls can be combined with UV resistant linings on their exposed faces to provide water tightness. Terre Armée also offers a solution for fitting a geomembrane on the back face of our Reinforced Earth® concrete panels, thus providing a waterproofing protected against nuisances such as floating debris, ice or vandalism on the exposed faces.

Geosynthetic clay liners are frequently used in reservoirs or canal applications and our TerraLine™ GCL products will answer the requirements of the projects.

Covering

In the instances for which canals have to be covered, TechSpan® precast arches are a straightforward solution which can be built without impairing the flow of water and which will bring all the benefits of precast systems in terms of speed of construction and impact on the environment.

TechBox™ culverts allow to build buried small section canals.

Industrial, mining and energy applications

Water management and irrigation are not the only users of reservoirs and canals.

Industrial and mining facilities may require water for their processes and generate liquid by products or wastes which need to be stored for treatment. Reinforced Earth® walls designed with geostrip soil reinforcements allowing for the use of chemically aggressive backfills, combined with Terre Armée waterproofing solution are an excellent fit for this type of application.

This solution is also well adapted to reservoirs built for environmental friendly pumped-storage hydroelectricity schemes since vertical walls maximize the volume of water retained. The construction of elevated reservoirs built with Reinforced Earth® will also allow to increase the vertical drop between the upper and lower reservoirs and thus the energy production.