1 Dept. of Soil Science, Dr. YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, HP-173 230, India.
Various sealing materials were first studied in the laboratory and the best three viz. cement, rice husk ash and bentonite clay were selected for studying their effectiveness to minimize seepage losses in water tanks. For this study 33 earthen tanks were dug at the departmental farm and the various sealing materials with different proportions and thicknesses were applied on the surface of the tanks and the drawdown of water with time was recorded. Cement: soil (1: 10 vol. basis) with a thickness of 3.75 cm was found most effective with 89.9 per cent seepage reduction. Cement: soil (1: 10 vol. basis) with 2.50 cm thickness was observed to rank second in effectiveness and the treatment was observed to be most cost effective with seepage reduction coming down to 81.8 per cent.
