Demand for water storage tanks in Africa to alleviate high level water shortages has created a growing market for protective coatings that ensure high performance and lasting durability of the stowing equipment.

Campaigns to have reliable and constant water supply sources are driving up water storage tank sales which has translated into surging coatings demand as consumers seek to counter the impact of violent weather, temperature swings and constant immersion on the tanks that could be made of concrete, steel or plastic.

These water storage tanks are susceptible to corrosion, which can be averted through quality coating systems. The coatings should be resistant to chemical attacks, have lowest absorption rates and high retention characteristics to enable users cut down on maintenance costs and extend the lifecycle of the water tanks.

According to Dallas Flinch, the director of Industrial and Marine Coatings at The Sherwin-Williams Company, “by design, all potable water storage tanks are inherently susceptible to corrosion attack.”
  “The primary function of a coating is to create a barrier to prevent chemical compounds and moisture from contacting the substrate. While an electrolyte is not always present in this area, preventing water ingress is essential for protection. In addition, the coating must have good adhesion, and chemical and abrasion resistant properties, as well as the ability to withstand ultraviolet radiation.”
Flinch said for the interior tank applications, the approach to corrosion control is different from the exterior one. “The strong electrolyte formed by the stored water creates a vehicle for ion transfer and current flow within the micro structure of the steel. However, coatings can be used to interrupt this process and prevent corrosion damage.”

Equipped with investments and the knowledge on water tanks technology, governments, private companies and non-governmental organizations in the continent have found water storage tanks the best alternative to maintain water supply in the water-stressed African countries hence laying the foundation for the expansion of the continent’s water tank coatings market.

The demand for water tanks is understandable. Sub-Saharan Africa has the highest number of water-stressed countries than any other continent in the world today, with more than 340 million people lacking access to a reliable source of water. It is estimated that between 75 million and 250 million people in Africa live in water stress areas posing a threat of displacement of up to 24 million to 700 million people as their condition turns to be unliveable for lack of water.

The United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) said in a few years from now “almost all sub-Saharan countries will be below the level at which water supply is enough for all. Even worse, most of them will be in a state of water-stress or scarcity.”

The looming water scarcity and desire by individuals, industrial establishments and institutions to mitigate current water shortages and looming scarcity has not only opened up a huge market for quality water storage tanks but also enhanced certain technologies that could be utilized by the stowage solutions.

For example, rain harvesting is gaining momentum as the most appropriate technology in ensuring water supply in water scarce areas. Communities, including pastoral tribes in the continent are gaining from rain harvesting technologies dominated by various types of tanks such as ground level tanks, circular tanks, elevated tanks, potable and wastewater storage among others. All these tanks require quality external and internal protection of the substrate from attack and also to ensure high drinking water quality.

The World Agroforestry Centre said contrary to the perception that Africa is a dry area “it actually has more water resources per capita than Europe.”  Unfortunately, the center said “much of Africa’s rain comes in bursts and is rapidly swept away or is never collected.”

UNEP also said technologies such as rainwater harvesting provides an alternative to water shortages in Africa and that if  “Widely deployed, rainwater harvesting can act as a buffer against drought events for these people, while also significantly supplementing supplies in cities and areas connected to the water grid.”

Frequent droughts in Africa, inadequate or dilapidated water supply networks because of low level public investment has triggered the increasing demand for alternative water withholding capacities.

Several companies with operations in Africa are striving to boost their sales and enhance their bottom lines by taking advantage of this huge demand for water storage and quality water tank coatings.

For example, Australia-based Heritage Water Tanks, which has been exporting a huge range of water tanks to Africa for years, said the continent “is an emerging continent and due to the remoteness of various communities and environmental differences experienced throughout the landscape,” has potential for quality water storage tanks.

The company said with the availability of water and especially the availability of potable water being a major problem in Africa, the region needs water storage solutions that enable water users to store the commodity “at an affordable realistic price.”

Recently, the company said it has been approached by several mining companies in Africa to supply them with waste water settlement tanks, fire fighting water tanks and commercial size potable water storage tanks. The supply order will ensure Heritage Water Tanks sustains its wide reach in the continent and also supports the growing tank coatings market.
UK-based Balmoral Tanks is another company that is already reaping from Africa’s demand for water storage tanks and modern tank coating technology.

The company recently completed a 2500 cubic meter Fusion Bonded Epoxy Coated Steel Fire Water Storage Tank in North Africa for a world renowned power and gas producer according to the a statement on the company’s website.

The Fire Water Tank, which is 17.16m diameter x 12.06m high, had its roof, shell and floor supplied in Balmoral Tanks’s premium Fusion Bonded Epoxy Coating, which the company explains is “a factory applied dry powder coating process utilizing a DuPont brand epoxy.”

In East Africa,  Roto Moulders Limited, one of Kenya’s biggest plastic tank manufacturers said it is taking advantage of the huge market for water storage facilities to grow its sales and revenues.
“I saw opportunity in the plastics industry given that at that time there was only one manufacturer of plastic tanks in the region,” said Heril Bangera, in an earlier interview with Kenya’s Business Daily newspaper.

He said the company has grown from making four tanks a day in 1989 to producing 500 tanks every in various brands and sizes, a confirmation of the growing East African market for water storage technology.

The demand for elevated and ground-level water storage tanks is also on the surge in West Africa where Accra-based Polytanks Ghana has recently launched a new range of tanks as the region transforms water tank storage as an integral part of the water distribution systems.

Polytanks, a member of the Mohinani Group, which is the leading manufacturer of plastic water storage tanks in West Africa, has launched the Blow Moulded Tank Technology (BMT) in the plastic water storage manufacturing sector, according to Ashok Mohinani, executive director of the Mohinani Group. He said the new type of tanks can store up to 1,000, 2,000 and 3,000 liters of water and also comes in a wide range of colors.

“Polytanks will continue to use pioneering technologies to constantly upgrade its product range which include water storage and septic tanks; dustbins; plastic pallets; poly kiosks and many more,” he said during the recent launch of BMT.

In South Africa, SBS Water Systems said demand for storage solutions is increasing as municipal councils, mining, commercial and fire protection sectors seek reliable water supply sources.
Although initially the company was a distributor of imported tanks, it recently opened a new production line in South Africa, “cutting lead times and expenses” on imports.

According to Mava Gwagwa, SBS Tanks’ new business and key accounts manager, the company is “currently having projects in Zimbabwe, the DRC, Sierra Leone, Malaysia and the U.S.,” with mining companies and municipalities topping the list of clients.

“Municipalities have realized that we supply a steel tank that is, in almost all situations, better than the conventional concrete tanks,” said Gwagwa.
“On the municipal side, this is absolutely critical. If you consider how often water is at the core of the service delivery protests, a municipality can truly address the issue of water provision easily and economically with SBS Tanks.”

Although no statistics are immediately available, the number of companies in the business of water storage tank manufacturing and supply is huge and so is the list of firms involved in production and supply of high performance waterborne and high solids coatings systems to protect the tanks from corrosion, the lead cause of leakages and water supply interruptions.

The water-scarcity in Africa, and the campaign to circumvent this challenge, promises to support growth of the water storage tanks and the tank protective coatings.