Rainbow Reservoirs has begun local manufacture of various reservoir component parts and is planning to start local rolling of the Zincalume steel panels from which the reservoir walls are constructed.

Local rolling will increase the number of flat panels that can be packed by the source factory overseas into a shipping container, lowering shipping costs and helping to contain prices.

Panel cutting and punching is likely to continue abroad because of the precise nature of these operations and the high cost of the machinery needed to carry them out.

Rainbow managing director, Wayne Thompson, explains that a worldwide shortage of fresh water continues to drive reservoir construction with steel panel reservoirs, having been adopted by commerce, industry and construction in recent years. The increased use of steel reservoirs arises from the product’s increased structural and general sophistication, and because of space savings and ease of installation.

The agricultural sector continues to ignore steel panel reservoirs in preference for bricks and mortar structures.

“In some sectors, the steel alternative remains incorrectly viewed as expensive,” says Thompson. “Although the purchase price may be higher than a bricks and mortar alternative, when viewed in terms of overall lifetime cost the panel reservoir is always substantially cheaper and it carries the additional advantage of relocatability.”

Thompson explains that a lower lifetime cost is the direct result of the longer effective life of the steel panel reservoir. There are examples of Rainbow reservoirs that have remained leak and corrosion-free for more than 30 years. Generally, bricks and mortar reservoirs have an accepted effective lifespan of 15 years as a result of cracks and bursts that occur from unsound construction and earth movement. .

“Although steel remains expensive, the price of cement has recently seen a dramatic rise, reducing the advantage of a lower initial outlay for a bricks and mortar reservoir,” he says.  “Relocatability is a further advantage. Whereas the bricks and mortar construct is fixed, the steel reservoir’s design facilitates easy relocation.  Should the source of the steel reservoir’s water run dry, it can simply be moved.

“In this way, the steel reservoir becomes an asset rather than a consumable.”