Dewatering a construction site simply means removing the water from the site and temporarily moving it elsewhere. Doing so will make the construction site a much safer place to be and will make the work easier and significantly reduce timeframes.
You will want the dewatering process to take as brief an expanse of time as possible, of course. If your construction project is delayed, that may cause significant problems down the line. For example, if you have hired labor personnel for a specific set of dates and the site is not ready when the opening date arrives, then you are going to be paying them for doing nothing. The same goes for other costs, such as equipment rental.
What is Dewatering for Construction, and Why is it so Important?
You may think that dewatering for a construction project is only necessary when the project is actually taking place in a source of water, such as bridge repairs or the construction of a boat ramp. This though, is not true – water has a tendency to get everywhere. It can accumulate in trenches and excavation areas and anywhere with inadequate sloping. The problem is even worse when the project itself is close to a source of water such as a river or lake as such areas typically have a high water table.
Therefore, you need an effective solution to the issue of dewatering, and one that is not time consuming. You might consider the construction of a temporary dam using steel, concrete, or earth, but the construction of such dams becomes a construction project itself, eating into the time that you have available for your actual project. Thankfully there is a much simpler, and much quicker solution – water-filled cofferdams.
How Water Filled Cofferdams can be Used to Quickly Dewater a Construction Site
Water-inflated cofferdams have been around since the late 1990s and are slowly replacing both sandbags and temporary dam constructions as the go-to method chosen by countless businesses when a temporary dam is required. They are noted for being both environmentally friendly and easy to transport, as well as being highly adaptable, functional and easy to use and install. One other significant benefit of a water-inflated cofferdam is that such cofferdams can be used time and time again. If you keep a water-inflated cofferdam clean, in a good state of repair and store it properly, it will be good for multiple uses.
To use a water inflated cofferdam, all you really need to do is transport it to the location of your construction project and then place it exactly where you need it to be. On dry land and static water, this is very easy to do. In dynamic water, you will need of course to anchor the cofferdam into position.
Once the cofferdam is where you need it to be, it is a simple matter of inflating it. You may only need to use two water pumps to completely inflate your dam, and your cofferdam can be inflated in less than an hour, depending upon the scope of your requirements. The weight of the water inside the dam is enough to anchor it into place. It also helps that the resource required to inflate your cofferdam – water – is usually readily available! Once the cofferdam’s use is over, it is a simple matter of pumping the water back out, and then cleaning and removing your dam from the location.
If you would like to learn more about water-filled cofferdams, and how they can be used to speedily dewater a construction site then please reach out to our team here at Dam-It-Dams.