In June 2009 Albarrie Canada Ltd. had the privilege to install our SorbWeb(TM) Plus secondary oil containment system for SaskPower. It was a sensitive area on the banks of the Wascana Lake within the City of Regina. It consisted of two separate containments outside their powerhouse.
The site was a challenge in that the soil was a dense impermeable clay with nowhere to drain the water.
It was therefore engineered to excavate a designed size pit and line it with non woven geotextile and fill it with washed crush stone and drain the water to it using 6” wick drains.
Here we place wick drains covering as much area as possible.
The wick drains must have a minimum slope of 0.5% for proper drainage and are covered with washed crush stone.
The drains come together and drain to the pit making sure we are at a minimum slope to arrive at the top of the pit. From the ‘Y’ to the pit, is actually 2 drains on top of one another. Any unused openings are taped off.
In cases where we find rough surfaces on the concrete……
….. we will wrap it with non woven geotextile. This prevents it from rubbing or protruding the impermeable liner.
All the pads and intrusions have been strapped and the base layer of sand is placed.
The banks are lined with the non woven geotextile and impermeable liner and then the Oilmat is silicone/glued in place.
The upper layer of the impermeable liner is pulled down and is siliconed/glued to the Oilmat.
All the intrusions were neatly wrapped using tape and silicone glue.
The Oilmat is carefully cut to allow any grounding wires to protrude. The area is then additionally protected with another small piece of Oilmat and glued in place.
Here we have conduits that are strapped to the concrete pad. The impermeable liner is strapped to either side and the opening filled with copolymer (white powder).
A piece of Oilmat is cut to fit the opening.
The edges are silicone/glued to the conduit and the impermeable liner.
A piece of impermeable linner is cut to fit the opening.
Finally all the edges are silicone/glued to complete an impenetrable seal.
Note: On the Sunday, it rained all day making a mess, but both containments were dry as the wick drains did their job and drained everything to the holding pit where it will eventually drain out.
The adsorbent layer is placed….
…..followed by a layer of woven geotextile.
A final bead of silicone/glue along the impermeable strapping edge finishes the containment for a complete seal ensuring no containments get behind the liner.
The entire containment is then filled with design fire quenching stone and raked out ensuring all material is covered. (Picture unavailable)
Prepared by: M. Dowds
Albarrie Geocomposites Ltd.
