The successful completion of a water- stabilisation upgrade on a commercial maize farm in Heidelberg, Gauteng, was achieved when water storage solutions provider DamPro applied its flagship DAMFIX Wet Earth Dam Sealant to a soil-based dam, without draining the water.

The farm relied on an old 1 ha earthen irrigation dam that exhibited severe structural seepage, losing between 15% to 20% of its total volume every week.

The dam leaked into the maize field, making the use of tractors and harvesters “a near impossible task” and forcing the farmer to run borehole pumps continuously to maintain water levels, says DamPro brand ambassador Belinda Boer.

Since the farm could not afford to drain the reservoir during a peak crop cycle, DamPro’s sealant was selected as an alternative to a complete overhaul of the reservoir structure.

DAMFIX Wet, which is distributed evenly across the water surface using a hand spreader and canoe or a drone, is a “unique, super-absorbent polymer powder blend” that can be applied without draining the water body.

“When applied directly to the water surface of an active, leaking earth dam, the particles hydrate and form a heavy gel,” says Boer.

The gel, drawn down by hydrostatic pressure and the natural suction of the leak, seeps into the porous areas, binding tightly with soil and clay particles to create a flexible and environmentally safe subsurface plug. This action dramatically improves the water holding capacity of the dam.

She adds that, within 14 days of application, the polymer gel had successfully sealed the underlying porous channels, with “the farm [having] recorded a 92% reduction in subterranean water loss”, yielding an immediate water saving of about 800 000 ℓ a week and reducing monthly borehole pumping electricity costs by more than 18%.

No Project too Big

Boer tells Engineering News that DamPro’s product architecture is inherently scalable and highly adaptable for smallholder communities, communal irrigation schemes and municipal stormwater harvesting systems.

​The modularity of its Eco Dam – which can be easily enlarged over time by adding extra sheets – and the plug-and-play simplicity of Damsak bladders, ranging in volume from 500 ℓ to 500 000 ℓ, make them ideal for resource-constrained environments.

“They require no specialised tools or complex civil engineering foundations to deploy,” she points out.

​Therefore, in South Africa’s agricultural landscape, these scaled solutions would deliver the maximum socioeconomic impact in a range of zones, from peri-urban smallholder hubs to communal farming projects.

Where communal earthen dams suffer from neglect or poor soil compaction, a community-led application of DAMFIX or a shared modular storage tank can “instantly stabilise water access” for dozens of smallholders, helping to secure regional food production and fostering local economic resilience, Boer notes.

Numerous Dam Possibilities

As climate variability puts immense pressure on Gauteng’s over-allocated water schemes, the traditional open-air earthen dams are no longer sufficient, Boer comments, adding that DamPro addresses this by providing numerous water containment solutions that optimise physical storage footprint and protect water quality.

​The company’s lining solutions include heavy-duty geomembrane liners and sodium bentonite clay applications, both of which eliminate seepage-related losses.

“The lining solutions ensure that 100% of the water pumped into a dam stays in the dam,” she states.

​Meanwhile, the SUPERDAM storage system offers space-efficient structural reservoirs built from Aluzinc steel panels with a heavy-duty liner, carrying up to a 16-year guarantee.

The Eco Dam – constructed from modular, 100% rust-proof corrugated polyvinyl chloride sheets – enables farmers to store “substantial” volumes vertically, limiting its footprint, while the Damsak bladder reservoirs are ideal for efficiency and convenience.

“Because the Damsak is completely sealed, it achieves two critical objectives simultaneously: zero evaporation loss and zero algae growth, dramatically boosting local water security by preserving water quantity and pure irrigation quality,” concludes Boer.