Doug Scott, a site development work contractor, was looking for a way to build a dam for a project at Stone Wall Golf Club in Gainesville, Va. The project required blocking off water from a lake on the golf course for outlet and embankment construction.
He read about the Portadam system on the Internet and decided to give it a try.
“We were skeptical at first, but it worked beautifully,” he says.
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The Portadam system, which started as a way to install piping in aging waterways, uses heavy duty fabric and frames to create a dam, which in turn creates the dry space needed for projects near bodies of water. The system’s applications have expanded in the past 30 years, and now golf courses are on the list of places the Portadam has been used to complete projects.
The service is offered on a rental/temporary basis. Portadam divers install and remove the dam.
“Typically, when you put into a stream on a property, you put in an intake pipe and that will provide water for the golf course,” says Portadam c.e.o. Bob Gatta. “In order to put intake stream in, you need a dry area. We put in a three-sided dam that provides the dry area.”
Installing a dam on a golf course takes three to five days, on average, depending on the soil type, Gatta says, adding the dam can be installed in any soil type, climate or terrain.
The dam is made of a pleated, heavyweight, nylon-reinforced PVC material that is hung between a series of frames. The fabric is reinforced so it can’t be punctured and leak. It can then be used effectively for as many as eight jobs. Once the dam is built, water is pumped out of the cordoned area.
The only limit to a Portadam project is that it can’t require a dam taller than 12 feet. There is no length limit because the dam can be installed in as many sections as needed. The divers who install the dam are different than commercial, or hard-hat divers, who tend to dive 100 feet down.
“The maximum depth our guys see is 15 to 17 feet when they’re putting the liner down,” Gatta says.
Portadam on the golf course
The height of the Portadam and unforeseen circumstances caused a couple of sticky situations for Scott, but disaster was averted.
“We had one or two significant rainfalls during construction in the couple of months the Portadam was in place, a couple times the water in the big lake breached the dam,” he says. “The Portadam people came and worked with it and got everything back into shape right away.”
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Matt McIntyre hasn’t seen anything like the Portadam before. McIntyre, president of Oakhurst Development, used the system a few years ago while working on a golf course restoration at Park Country Club in Buffalo, N.Y.
Other Golf courses that have incorporated the Portadam in construction projects include the Tournament Players Club in Cromwell, Conn. and Rolling Hills Casino’s golf course in Corning, Calif.
Scott thought the service was a little more expensive than other methods he’s used, but adds the service provided is worth the price.
McIntyre described another type of dam he’s used as a rubber, water-filled tube that blocks water from entering the work area. With that system, the tube didn’t stay where he wanted it, and he often had to contend with seepage.
Another way to create a dam is with sheet piling, which involves pushing overlapping, open tubes of steel into the ground. The process requires hydraulic fluids, which can cause trouble if they leak into the waterway, Gatta says. Other methods are seen as unsafe as well.
“Before, people would just push dirt into waterways,” he says. “You can’t do that now, with the environmental regulations.”
The first Portadams
The idea for the Portadam method was born in the 1970s out of the need to find a different way to make a dam. Scores of aging waterways and canals throughout the United Kingdom required a system that would allow workers to quickly get in and out each area to make repairs. So, with a grant from the British government, the Portadam became that solution.
Lee Flexible Structures then bought the concept from two men who created it. The company had the equipment, but not the knowledge needed to install the system. Lee consulted with Walker Diving in Southern New Jersey to develop a way to install the equipment. From 1974, Walker was the exclusive installer of the Portadam.
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Walker purchased the rights to Portadam the U.S. in 1984 and ran the business until 2004, when it decided to exit the business. Gatta, along with c.f.o. Lesley Bachman and private equity investors then purchased the business.
“We thought, here’s a fantastic business model,” Gatta says. “But most of the business came from the Northeast U.S. and Atlantic regions. If we take business model and replicate it six or seven times in the U.S., we get the equipment to more cities and get more business.”
The company has carried this out, spreading out with locations in Atlanta, Dallas and Nevada. Each facility is a fully-operating, with warehousing and the ability to repair fabric and send it to the next job. Gatta also places seasoned veterans at each location.
“We don’t just get the equipment close to the customers,” he says, adding, “We also put the know-how and experience close to the customers as well.”
Gatta plans are to continue to focus on Portadam’s growth.
“We’re looking to branch out to more locations,” Gatta says, adding the company can only perform the work in the vicinity of where the materials are located, so they need to establish additional locations to keep the materials and expand the company’s service reach.
For more information, visit www.portadam.com.
