Over a period of years, some 21,000 m3 of sediment had collected at the bottom discharge outlet of the Occhito dam (Apulia, Italy). For reasons of safety, this detritus needed to be removed and suitably disposed of, but given the amounts of material in question and the absence of contaminants, it was decided to set up a dewatering facility close by, so as to reduce the water content of the sediment and leave the solids on site. The operation was made possible by utilizing thirty or so SINTEXTUBE D textile filters, sized and stitched by Geosintex, into which the material removed from the dam was pumped together with a suitable flocculant. This produced a swift and effective separation: the extracted water was released back into the lake, and the solids retained and stored in the filters. On completion of the process, the textile tubes filled with solid material were left on site, then buried and used for reshaping the contours of the terrain.
