They patented a modular Dam for streams made of recycled plastic

The valorisation/valorization of the plastics refused is a subject of big environmental and economic interest. These can serve to manufacture new products but his acceptance in the market is scarce, since they have a bad presence and the process for his reuse is costly.

To give exit to these plastics recycled, the professor of the Department of Engineering of Systems and Automatic of the University of Valladolid Ramiro Merino has contrived a new hydraulic construction, a minipresa modular to regulate discharges of small basins. “In a lot of African countries or of the Mediterranean area, like Spain, exists the need to keep the hydratation of the floors, what allows the development of a vegetal layer and the maintenance of the resources hídricos phreatic”, ensures the researcher, the one who remembers that many times the water falls in the basin and quickly the escorrentía directs it to the mar. “The time of permanence of the water is too scarce as so that it can have an infiltration and is through her, of the hydratation of the floors, as it arises all the wild vegetation”, recalca.

If these levels are not kept the land is left unprotected of vegetation cover, is impoverished and are desertifica, one of the biggest problems facing these countries. "We believe in it and we thought a hydraulic construction from an economic process, merge into open mold, permitting large simple pieces." The mold is made with a cheap material, then pour the plastic and is heated with wood or low-cost fuels. "Once the plastic has been liquefied withdrew the heat, it disarms the mold and obtained the piece", details the researcher, who has patented the idea.

The dam is composed of two pieces that are assembled, a power station in U-shape and other side placed on both sides to reach the required width of the stream where you want to install. According to Merino, the pressure of the water "pressed against the wedge panels and there is a shutter". The dam has a small threshold, so that water flows and is feeding the next dam, which is situated about two meters below, raising the water table "of the order of metro and a half to two meters" and favoring the recharge of aquifers. It is also equipped with a control system to see remotely the level of flow.

Another advantage of the designed dam is that it is recyclable, and can remove it and place it in another stream, emphasizes the researcher. "It can be placed in the basin of any stream due to its modular form and that their placement does not require major civil works in the area, without having to divert the course of the river or alter the environment". In this sense, it is provided in addition to a valve bottom and an escalerilla of water "which allows trout or crabs, for example, colonise various parts of the basin, while the dam represents a problem for them".

On the price of the installation, the professor at the University of Valladolid requires that it approaches the 18,000 euros by dam, costing much less than of a Weir, the barrier common to increase the flow of the rivers. In the same vein, explains that the Weir is permanent and requires the making of an important work, by changing the channel of the stream. Thus the developed dam adapts to the report of Unesco 'Water, a shared responsibility', by which should aim at a reduction of hydraulic structures that distort ecosystems.