WaveSave and its portable rubber dam

WaveSave 及其便携式橡胶防洪坝

As sea levels rise and flood risks worsen due to global warming, WaveSave’s easy-to-erect portable dam offers a quick-response tool. People can use the dam to protect themselves and their property, and it can also store freshwater for later use. Communities in Europe, Africa, and Southeast Asia have deployed it successfully. Now, the company is expanding into other water-related services to help vulnerable places become more resilient. 随着全球变暖导致海平面上升和洪水风险加剧，WaveSave 公司易于搭建的便携式防洪坝提供了一种快速响应工具。人们可以使用这种防洪坝来保护自身及财产安全，它还可以储存淡水以备后用。欧洲、非洲和东南亚的社区已成功部署了该设备。目前，该公司正扩展至其他与水相关的服务领域，以帮助脆弱地区增强抵御能力。

One in five people globally are at high risk of being exposed to serious floods. Many live in communities without proper protection and can’t afford to evacuate during a flood or relocate permanently. Climate change-driven extreme weather and sea-level rise is only exacerbating the problem. WaveSave makes a portable rubber dam called SlamDam that customers can quickly install in the early hours of a flood. Anyone can unfurl it on the ground along a riverbank or shoreline and pump it full of water until it swells into place. And there it stands, up to 1.3 meters high, shielding nearby property or structures from damage as waters rise. 全球每五个人中就有一人面临严重的洪水风险。许多人居住在缺乏适当保护的社区，既无力在洪水期间撤离，也无法永久搬迁。气候变化引发的极端天气和海平面上升只会加剧这一问题。WaveSave 生产一种名为 SlamDam 的便携式橡胶防洪坝，客户可以在洪水初期迅速安装。任何人都可以将其沿河岸或海岸线铺开，并注水直至其膨胀到位。它最高可达 1.3 米，在水位上涨时能保护附近的财产或建筑物免受损害。

Developed in 2013 in the Netherlands, SlamDam was initially tested and is still used today by regional water authorities in that country. WaveSave has since expanded into Africa and Southeast Asia, and customers have now deployed SlamDam in at least a dozen countries. SlamDam 于 2013 年在荷兰开发，最初由该国区域水务部门进行测试，至今仍在使用。此后，WaveSave 已扩展至非洲和东南亚，目前客户已在至少十几个国家部署了 SlamDam。

Key indicators

关键指标

• Industry: Flood barriers
• 行业： 防洪屏障
• Year the company was founded: 2017
• 成立年份： 2017 年
• City and country of headquarters: Eindhoven, the Netherlands
• 总部所在地： 荷兰埃因霍温
• Notable fact: WaveSave is demoing its SlamDam product on New York City’s Governors Island as one of seven winners in a competition for urban climate adaptations. The barrier is installed at a site where high tides and waves from passing ferries often wash ashore.
• 值得注意的事实： 作为城市气候适应竞赛的七个获胜者之一，WaveSave 正在纽约市总督岛展示其 SlamDam 产品。该屏障安装在一个经常受到高潮和过往渡轮波浪冲刷的地点。

Potential for impact

潜在影响

Due to both climate change and population growth, nearly 2 billion people will be exposed to floods by 2100—an increase of 300 million from 2020, according to one estimate. A SlamDam is designed to help protect farmland and personal property as well as critical facilities like hospitals or water treatment plants. It’s cheaper in the short term than more permanent modifications like building levees or rebuilding facilities on higher ground. And its temporary nature means it can be deployed as needed, and then stored away. 据估计，受气候变化和人口增长的影响，到 2100 年，将有近 20 亿人面临洪水威胁，比 2020 年增加了 3 亿。SlamDam 旨在帮助保护农田、个人财产以及医院或水处理厂等关键设施。从短期来看，它比修建堤坝或在高地重建设施等永久性改造工程更便宜。其临时性的特点意味着它可以按需部署，用完后即可收起。

To fill the SlamDam, a local installer can use any portable water pump they may have on hand. With a lifespan of more than 40 years, the flood barriers can be used again and again. This low-tech solution has another important benefit, at least when it comes to freshwater floods: In the weeks and months after a flood, residents can tap the water stored inside the mobile dam to irrigate crops. This is particularly helpful during the dry season or in drought-prone regions. At the rural Mpanda commune in Burundi in East Africa, where a SlamDam was deployed during the 2022 flood season, farmers with access to the water inside produced more crops that year and doubled their incomes, according to a UN report. 安装人员可以使用手头的任何便携式水泵来填充 SlamDam。这种防洪坝的使用寿命超过 40 年，可以反复使用。这种低技术含量的解决方案还有一个重要好处，至少在淡水洪水方面：在洪水过后的几周和几个月里，居民可以利用储存在移动防洪坝内的水来灌溉农作物。这在旱季或易旱地区尤为有用。据联合国报告显示，在东非布隆迪的姆潘达（Mpanda）农村公社，2022 年洪水季节部署了 SlamDam 后，能够利用坝内水源的农民当年的农作物产量增加，收入翻了一番。

Caveats

注意事项

Companies like AquaFence, MegaSecur, and NOAQ Flood Protection also make mobile flood barriers. WaveSave distinguishes itself in part by focusing on rapid emergency deployment in developing countries, and by emphasizing SlamDam’s ability to store water for later use. But one research team that analyzed SlamDam’s use in Kenya found a series of challenges to getting communities there to adopt the technology. One was figuring out who should own and deploy the dam. Another ongoing challenge is the up-front cost. AquaFence、MegaSecur 和 NOAQ Flood Protection 等公司也生产移动防洪屏障。WaveSave 的独特之处在于，它专注于发展中国家的快速应急部署，并强调 SlamDam 储存水以备后用的能力。然而，一个研究团队在分析 SlamDam 在肯尼亚的使用情况时发现，当地社区采用该技术面临一系列挑战。其中之一是确定谁应该拥有和部署该防洪坝。另一个持续存在的挑战是前期成本。

SlamDam is already on par with or more affordable than many alternatives: It costs between €1,000 and €3,000 (about $1,140 and $3,400) per five-meter section, and comes in a range of heights. Protecting a single entrance to a home or facility might require only 10 meters, while surrounding a facility (such as a hospital) or shielding a farm or neighborhood might take 200 to 300 meters. But the price is still too high for many communities or farmers. WaveSave’s managing director Omar Saleh says the company is looking into offering SlamDam as a service and deploying it on demand to make protection more affordable. SlamDam 的价格已经与许多替代品持平或更具竞争力：每 5 米长的价格在 1,000 到 3,000 欧元（约合 1,140 到 3,400 美元）之间，并有多种高度可选。保护住宅或设施的单个入口可能只需要 10 米，而包围一个设施（如医院）或保护农场或社区可能需要 200 到 300 米。但对于许多社区或农民来说，这个价格仍然太高。WaveSave 的总经理 Omar Saleh 表示，公司正在考虑将 SlamDam 作为一种服务提供，并按需部署，以使这种保护措施更具经济性。

Next steps

下一步计划

Right now, an external partner manufactures all SlamDams in the Netherlands; they are then shipped to customers based elsewhere. But WaveSave aims to open a local production facility for SlamDams in Southeast Asia in early 2027, followed by a similar facility in East Africa, which could help lower costs. The company recently won contracts for four new projects totaling about $5.3 million in Burundi, Djibouti, and Guinea, with a “substantial pipeline” developing in Southeast Asia and Latin America, according to Saleh. 目前，所有 SlamDam 均由荷兰的外部合作伙伴制造，然后运往其他地区的客户手中。但 WaveSave 计划于 2027 年初在东南亚开设当地生产设施，随后在东非建立类似设施，这将有助于降低成本。据 Saleh 称，该公司最近在布隆迪、吉布提和几内亚赢得了四个新项目的合同，总额约 530 万美元，并在东南亚和拉丁美洲拥有“大量储备项目”。

The company is currently self-financed and only has seven employees. Saleh says he plans to grow organically by investing profits back into the firm. Part of that growth will involve offering new services such as advising communities on how to install and operate simple, off-the-shelf rainwater harvesting and irrigation systems, as part of a more comprehensive approach to managing water in climate-stressed regions. 该公司目前处于自筹资金阶段，仅有七名员工。Saleh 表示，他计划通过将利润重新投入公司来实现有机增长。增长的一部分将包括提供新服务，例如建议社区如何安装和操作简单的现成雨水收集和灌溉系统，作为在气候压力地区进行更全面水资源管理方案的一部分。