The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI) presented a one-day short course at the Sheraton Bogota Hotel in Bogota, Colombia on 12 August 2019.  The short course was offered in collaboration with Filmtex, a geomembrane manufacturing company headquartered in Bogota, and the Colombian Chapter of the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS). The all-day short course drew 49 registrants.

The excellent and timely presentations focused on the challenges and environmental concerns associated with mining, tunneling, water, and waste containment technologies and how geomembranes and geosynthetics can be used to mitigate the concerns and risks.  The beginning portion of the short course focused on geomembrane fabrication, installation, manufacturing and geosynthetics for civil engineering applications with five (5) presentations.  Dr. Timothy D. Stark of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign focused on the new FGI PVC Geomembrane Specification, factory fabrication and field installation, and the Columbus Water Reservoir Project.  Juan Cortes and Myriam Acevedo of Filmtex provided insight into the latest advancements in geomembrane manufacturing.  Camillo Marulanda of Ingetec Colombia, wrapped up the morning session with an informative presentation on the use of geosynthetics for dam applications.  

The second half of the presentations continued the focus on various applications of geosynthetics in containment applications, as well as geomembrane seaming. For example, Marina Villaroel of Alphard (Canada) gave an informative presentation on geosynthetics for mining application. Julio Ferreira of TRI Environmental reviewed the best practices for developing leak location surveys and obtaining a zero leak containment system.  Finally, Jorge Herrero Vega of Cesla Mexico, wrapped up the event with a presentation reviewing the the general concepts of geomembrane seaming followed by an interactive welding demonstration that allowed attendees to weld and test geomembranes. 

Many attendee questions, comments, and experiences made the course a great success. The topics and speakers from the successful short course are shown below:

‍FGI Introduction, Activities, and Current Research - T. Stark (U. of Illinois)

Introducción sobre la FGI, sus actividadese Investigación actual

Introduction to IGS Colombia Chapter - Mauricio Rendon (IGS Colombia)

Introduccióna la sociedad internacional de geosintéticos, capítulo  Colombia.

FGI PVC Spec: scope, origin &description of properties - T. Stark (U. ofIllinois)

Presentación Especificación FGI 6119 para PVC

‍Factory Fabrication & Field Installation - T. Stark (U. of Illinois)

Fabricación de Páneles en Planta e Instalación

‍Geosynthetics in Tunnel Applications - Chungsik Yoo (IGS President)

Aplicaciones de Geosintéticos en Túneles(Videoconferencia)

PVC Geomembranes Manufacturing - Juan Cortes & Myriam Acevedo (Filmtex)

Producciónde Geomembranas de PVC

‍Columbus Water Reservoir & Geomembrane Seaming - T.Stark (U. of Illinois)

Reservorio de Agua en Columbus, OH y sellado de geomembranas.

‍Geosynthetics in Dam Applications - Camillo Marulanda (Ingetec Colombia)

Aplicación de geo sintéticos en Represas.

‍Geosynthetics in Waste Management - T. Stark (U. of Illinois)

Geosintéticos en Aplicaciones de Manejo deDesechos                                                                                                      

‍Geosynthetics in MiningApplications - Marina Villaroel (Alphard,Canada)

Geosintéticosen Aplicaciones de Minería

‍Leak Location for Fabricated Geomembranes - Julio Ferreira (TRI/Environmental)

Detecciónde fugas en Geomembranas

‍General Concepts of Geomembrane Seaming - Jorge Herrero,(Cesla Mexico)

ConceptosGenerales de Sellado de Geomembrana

‍Welding Demonstration - JorgeHerrero, (Cesla Mexico)

Práctica de sellado

The FGI is dedicated to advancing the use of fabricated geomembranes through education, research, and technology transfer. The FGI is an industry sponsored consortium of manufacturers, fabricators, installers, designers, regulators, and material suppliers of fabricated geomembranes. For more information on the FGI, please visit www.fabricatedgeomembrane.com

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