Geomembranes in Tenerife and La Palma Islands (Canary Islands)

Abstract

The Canaries Islands are situated, offshore from Morocco southern coast and close to the tropical line. The soil in each island is very permeable. It is then necessary to use artificial waterproofing to store water. Since 1983, in western islands, Tenerife and La Palma islands, 24 large reservoirs are built, and waterproofed with different kind of geomembranes, exposed to the sun. The paper presents the general approach from an economical and hydrologic point of view, shows some typical works and gives also some information on design for the anchoring against wind effect. And the paper present also the considerable experience about durability of geomembrane exposed to the sun in tropical conditions.