Estimation of Best Combination of Low Cost Lining Materials to Reduce Seepage Losses from Reservoir

Abstract

Makhamalabad farm, one of the farm of K. K. Wagh College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology, Nashik, was facing a problem of seepage loss from reservoirs having high infiltration rate of 317 mm•day-1 and thus the reservoir was unable to store the water for long period. Therefore, the present research work was undertaken with the objective to make the soil strata impervious to avoid seepage losses from the reservoir. A laboratory model was made, for measuring infiltration rate of low cost lining materials. Infiltration rate of individual lining materials like black soil, river soil, cow dung and gypsum were first determined and then the infiltration rate of combination of lining materials in various sequence of lining materials was determined. Among the individual lining materials, gypsum had lowest infiltration rate of 5.12 mm•day-1 than other lining materials. Therefore gypsum has proved to be the best material for lining, in case of individual material with a cost of Rs 7.50 per m2. It was also observed that, the infiltration rate from combination of lining materials with the sequence of gypsum placed at bottom layer, then followed by river soil, black soil and cow dung gave the lowest infiltration rate of 1.14 mm•day-1 as compared to other sequence of combination of lining materials. The cost of this combination of lining materials was Rs 27 per m2 area which is lower as compared to per m2 cost of PE film i.e. Rs 30.00 used for lining pond or reservoir.

Farma Makhamalabad ima problem gubitaka zbog curenja rezervoara sa visokim stepenom infiltracije od 317 mm•dan-1, tako da rezervoar nije u stanju da skladišti vodu na duži period. Zato je izvedeno istraživanje sa ciljem postizanja nepropusnosti zemljišta radi izbegavanja gubitaka curenjem iz rezervoara. Napravljen je laboratorijski model za merenje infiltracije jevtinih materijala za obloge: crnica, rečni supstrat, goveđa balega i gips. Među njima, gips je imao najmanji stepen infiltracije od 5.12 mm•dan-1 i ocenjen je kao najbolji materijal za oblogu, sa cenom od Rs 7.50•m-2. Takođe je utvrđeno da je infiltracija kombinovane obloge od gipsa u donjem sloju, na koji su dodati slojevi od ostalih materijala bila najmanja i iznosila 1.14 mm•dan-1 u poređenju sa ostalim kombinacijama. Cena ove kombinovane obloge bila je Rs 27•m-2, što je jevtinije od PE filma (Rs 30.00•m-2) koji je korišćen za oblaganje lagune ili rezervoara.