Pollution mitigation with geomembrane at Boyukshor Lake

In the summer of 2015, the European Games, a multi-sport event for athletes from European countries, took place in the Azerbaijani capital, Baku. For this event, a stadium was built on the edge of Boyukshor Lake, which was heavily polluted with oil-laden sludge. Before the start of the Games, the water quality had to be brought to an acceptable level.

To achieve this in a short time, the lake was divided into manageable sections by constructing embankments. In the part of the lake in front of the stadium, the polluted sludge was dredged and transported to a processing location where it was cleaned.

To prevent the cleaned water from becoming polluted again, the embankments (made of rock blocks, which are not waterproof) were lined with a waterproof, oil-resistant geomembrane by Genap, using a specially developed sinking technique. This was carried out on behalf of Körpü Bina Tikinti (KBT), Azerbaijan’s second-largest contractor. The geomembranes were installed by our own assembly teams in Baku.