Needles Eye Industries Pty Ltd: Australian Distributors of Industrial and Domestic Sewing Machines, Welders, Cutters etc.
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ABOUT OUR COMPANY
PROVIDED SERVICES
SEWING EQUIPMENT
QUILTING EQUIPMENT
WELDING EQUIPMENT
high frequency welders
EMBROIDERY EQUIPMENT
 
 
     
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ACASPA 2003 First Prize: Category 1  
  General Canvas & Synthetic Fabric Products  
     
  Company:
Contact:
Tel:
Email:		 Darling Down Tarps
Max Brady
(07) 4634 2166
ddt@ddt.com.au		  
     
 
     
Project Description:  
  We were approached by a family-owned farming enterprise (farming rock melons, table grapes and cotton) to fabricate and install a floating cover on their 42,000sqm irrigation storage dam. With irregular and uncertain opportunities available to obtain the water to fill the storage, the prospect of losing as much as two metres depth of water from evaporation per year could jeopardise the profitability of the enterprise. As always the solution to the problem had to be cost-effective.

The membrane is supplied 1.3m wide, so there was a considerable amount of factory prefabrication, and on-site (on water) joining to do. The dam was full at the time! The p.e. Membrane chosen has built-in buoyancy, so no additional flotation had to be fitted.
     
     
What Was Special About This Project:  
 
  • It has never been done in this manner before.
  • Shop panels were prefabricated to approx 1,000sqm for on-water deployment (three semi trailer loads sent to site).
  • During deployment, wind presented a potential threat (1,000sqm is a big sail!) – so techniques had to be developed to do the job safely, yet productively.
  • The biggest challenge was to join (weld) the prefabricated panels on the water.
  • To accomplish this we had to invent and develop a mobile floating work platform fitted with a wedge welder. We think we achieved a world first!
     
Specific challenges included:  
 
  • How to maintain the correct membrane overlap for welding.
  • How to dry the plastic sufficiently prior to welding.
  • Synchronising welder nip-roller speed with barge speed.
  • Strictly maintaining operator safety when using electrically powered gear on water.
  • Rain falling onto the cover runs under the cover where it too is protected from evaporation.
  • The system is able to handle the normal fluctuating level of water in the dam.
  • Farmers, water resources scientists, and others have been daunted by the difficulties in protecting stored water from evaporation losses for many years.
  • Annual losses of up to 3 metres depth of water are experienced in some parts of this country.
  • This evaporation control cover has proven to cut such losses by around 90% - and is especially significant given recent drastic cuts in irrigation water allocation.
     
Apart from the water saving, the cover has delivered other benefits too:
 
  • Near elimination of evaporation prevents salinity build-up in the water storage.
  • Reduction (to near zero) of algae growth.
  • Almost no dam bank erosion due to wave action.
  • With almost no evaporation now, a farmer can now build a smaller dam (to give the same result) – with some excavation cost reduction, and less farmland area loss.
  • After one summer, the cover has already allowed the owners to grow and harvest an additional crop of melons and pumpkins – and to have the water and therefore the confidence – to plant around 15 acres of table grapes in addition to their "normal" seasonal programme.
  • From the interest generated by this project already, we believe there is a big future for this type of cover right around australia and in several other countries where water is limited and therefore worth protecting.
  • With this system, the all up cost works out to be the equivalent of 1 cent per 25 litres of water saved (factoring in interest, but ignoring tax deductions – and making reasonable assumption of fabric lifespan).
     
     
     
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NEEDLES EYE INDUSTRIES PTY LTD
UNIT 6,1904 BEACH ROAD, MALAGA, WESTERN AUSTRALIA
TEL: (08) 9248 2900    FAX: (08) 9248 2901