GTI, in New Brunswick, Canada, has developed a new retractable cover system for tanks and basins. The cover is a low-profile arch system and can be rolled up along the frame. The frames can be taken out without requiring any outside equipment for complete access to the tank.

During a recent trip to Europe we heard that HDPE is being designed to line oil storage tanks. Ian D. Peggs of I-CORP INTERNATIONAL cautions that this is not an appropriate use of HDPE without a fluorine surface treatment or without incorporation in a multilayer composite liner.

Stevens Geomembranes names a new geosynthetics sales manager, Tom Gallivan. Long-time member of the geosynthetics community and Mr. Gallivan's predecessor, Vince McPartland has been promoted to a Vice Presidential position with Stevens Industrial Fabrics. Our congratulations go out to Tom and Vince!

The company has introduced a polyester film with thermal adhesives for thermal bonding to nonwovens. Melinex 301H is a clear, thermally stable polyester film with a thermal adhesive on one side for thermal laminating to nonwovens with polyester, glass and natural fibers.

The June issue of the IGS Thailand newsletter includes conference announcements, a special report on MARV from GFR, and information on membership application. As of yet, there is no chapter website, but Dennes T. Bergado, of the Asian Center for Soil Improvement and Geosynthetics (ACSIG) at the Asian Institute of Technology is the secretariat of the chapter. The website of ACSIG is www.sce.ait.ac.th/acsig and his is Email: acsig@ait.ac.th or bergado@ait.ac.th

Article: Landfill Proposal Draws Ire, written by Betsy Gilliland, staff writer with the DailyLocal.com. Learn more here.;

A report from Robert Mackey on the Second Symposium on Geosynthetic Clay Liners, Sponsored by ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics, June 20, 2003, Denver Colorado, USA.

Due to an international hacking attack on Cisco routers, gsa.net servers were unavailable Thursday, July 31st through Saturday, August 2nd. Any requests or information within that time may not have been received. Geosynthetica asks for any correspondence to be resent. We regret any inconvenience that this may have caused.

On Wednesday last week John Prescott announced the first phase of a massive government house building scheme in the south east of England. Based around five strategic sites in the Thames Gateway area, one of the aims of the scheme is to take advantage of 3000 hectares of "brownfield" sites - ex-industrial land. The announcement re-affirms building on brownfield sites as a vital topic for the UK construction and engineering industries.

Five bulletins on IGS Peru's activities: 1) On May of the last year, we made 1st Course of Geosynthetic for Professors of Technology of Materials, with the sponsor of Maccaferri of Peru. The objective was to promote the education of geosynthetics at the universities of Peru. For such aim we invited with all the expenses paid to 10 professors of universities of provinces and 5 of Lima, to a course of two days in Miraflores Hotel. Mr. Jaime Durán from Brasil developed an Overview of Geosynthetics. At the end of the course we gave to assistants, a CD with the presentation and we ask them to install it in the machines of the Centers of Students and School of Engineers of each locality. One of the universities of Lima, has incorporated the course of Design with Geosynthetics to currícula of the pre degree studies. 2) In November 2002 we carried out 1st Specialization Course in Geosynthetics: An Overview of Geosynthetics, for that we were sponsored by Maccaferri of Peru, Tecnología de Materiales, Cidelsa, and SL of Chile. Also it was made in two days and we gave to the participants the authorized translation to Spanish of the chapter 1 of Dr. Robert Koerner's book "Design with Geosynthetics", as well as a CD with the presentations of Mauricio Ossa (Chile), Néstor Sifuentes (Peru), Augusto Alza (Peru) and Enrique Alvarez (Mexico). 3) Last May we made 2nd Specialization Course in Geosynthetics: Design with Geotextiles, for which we were sponsored by Amanco, Geotecnia & Pavimentos and Tecnología de Materiales. Also it was made in two days and we gave to the participants the authorized translation to the Spanish of chapter 2 of Dr. Robert Koerner's book, as well as a CD with the presentations of Javier Calderón (Colombia) and Néstor Sifuentes (Peru). 4) Our Geogrids Committee is preparing the 3rd Specialization Course in Geosynthetics: Design with Geogrids, which we are going to carry out in September 5th and 6th. All information about this Course are in our web site: http://www.igsperu.org/eventos_nacionales.htm. Next year (April) we will carry out the 5th Specialization Course in Geosynthetics: Design with Geo-others, with which we closed this cycle. 5) In August 2004, we are going to carry out our 1st National Conference on Geosynthetics. Learn more here.;