The Durability and Potability of Cement-Based Coatings for Drinking Water Reservoirs

Drinking water reservoirs are often made of concrete and coated with a cement-based mortar. These materials exhibit a similar chemical composition as the earth crust. The main elements are Silicon, Calcium, Aluminum, Sodium, Potassium, Oxygen and Hydrogen. A pre-mixed cement-based mortar with quartz sand, a mortar with a cementitious hydraulic binder and a mortar with white cement with quartz sand were used. The main mechanical properties were determined in the fresh and in the hardened state. The use of chemical additives, supplementary cementitious materials or recycled components may endanger the durability and the water potability. Therefore, leaching tests were done in a static and dynamic mode. The mechanical properties exhibited satisfactory values, in spite of a slight trend to cracking. All mortars did not release significant amounts of metallic or non-metallic elements within the waters and the values were below the limits required from the standards.