Sludge in Church Street canal could be useful when processed using geotubes

Earlier this year the Guyana Water Incorporated started to explore to possibility of utilizing geotubes for the recycling of the sludge that remains after water is treated and also to solve the problem of sludge build up in the Church Street Canal.

Manager of Innovative Building Solutions, Mario Amres said the sludge in the Church Street Canal, which has been a problem for GWI for a number of years, is made of up of chemicals, which pose health threats.

He explained that by using geotubes, similar to those acting as groins at the Seawalls,  but in a different application known as a de-watering system, GWI would be able to  take the sludge, which is over 90 percent water and separate it. “We brought a gentleman out of France, where we were able to use the polymer and do the separation of the sludge to get a higher grade of water coming out, the water company would not only be able to separate the sludge but re-use that water into the system,” Amres said.

Amres further explained that once a year the bag could be opened, the sludge consolidated and the discarded material used in different ways, “with that discarded material you can do building blocks, if there is a clay brick factory in the country, you can use if in clear brick making, the tubes itself you can use it if there’s an access road …it is a fully functional, recyclable, environmentally friendly system.”

The Manager said he was pleased when the cabinet approved the project back in April, since the company spent from 2014 to 2015 going through an evaluation process.

He noted that this technology was patented by international geosynthetic company Tencate, which signed an agreement with Innovative Building Solutions, so that the necessary procedures could be followed to bring the systems to Guyana.

Amres said GWI also deemed the process as a very effective way of dealing with industrial sludge.