Floods can be devastating but luckily there are novel solutions out there that could help municipalities deal with these sorts of disasters.
One of these solutions, made by Canadian company MegaSecur, is called Water-Gate dam and it is a self-locking water barrier that can be used as an alternative to hundreds of sandbags.
The Water-Gate provides protection up to 60 inches (1.5 m) and it is possible to join multiple barriers together to widen the field of intervention. The barrier has a high resilience capacity, which allows it to absorb impacts from objects without affecting its integrity.
The portable dam comes as a PVC roll and is reusable for quick flood control to stop or limit the flow of water or redirect it elsewhere. It works against the water pressure, which unfolds the barrier and uses the water weight to hold the water back.
Aside from flood protection, the Water-Gate could also be used for urban stormwater deviation, hazmat/oil spill response, temporary cofferdams and water supply for firefighters — with its lightweight design allowing for timely intervention in remote or hard‑to‑access environments.
According to MegaSecur, the dam also requires very little manpower for deployment and its lifespan is between 20 and 25 years.
Compared to other competing products, the Water-Gate barrier offers ease of use in terms of deployment, uninstallation and handling stages, thus saving time and money.
As of October 2020, over 55 km of MegaSecur’s water barriers have been deployed in around 30 countries — including Canada, the United States, France, Chile, Australia, Japan, Belgium, Thailand, Malaysia, Turkey, Singapore and others.
Takeaway
Action point
This is one of the products every municipality living next to the river or sea should have in its arsenal. Actually, the Water-Gate should be a must-have for the firefighters in the city/town, which could use it for quick deployments to protect people and property when the flood takes place. It is an affordable solution that could prevent big damage to the local infrastructure. And as such - the Water-Gate brings (political) points to the person behind the initiative to procure one (or more) of these water barriers.
While the Water-Gate has been deployed in around 30 countries, there are still many places that have yet to procure one of these. And that leaves room for your business to contact MegaSecur and explore distribution options in other markets they still haven't covered. Think about municipalities you're already selling to as well as other cities and towns that could benefit from this sort of protection. With the climate changing, there will be an increasing number of potential clients for the solution like Water-Gate.