The Various Uses of Sandbags

Answer 1

Sandbags are very basic items. Most commonly, bags are constructed out of polypropylene (though burlap is also used) and then filled with sand or soil. Sandbags are used to construct barriers by different groups for a number of varying reasons.

The two most common users of sandbags are the military and flood control personnel. Because it is so cheap to make sandbags and relatively easy to dispose of them, they are a prime choice for emergencies but not usually the only defense employed. To hold water back, most cities or towns use a series of levees, dikes, or dams. When these leak or are overflowed, sandbags are brought in and used to help contain the flooding. They can be used in non-emergency situations to create a base for a new levee or dam.

Though sandbag walls can be quickly and cheaply erected, some people have concerns about using sandbags in very bad situations. They worry that although the sandbags do soak up water, if the water seeps through the bags it can push small amounts of finer materials through the seams as it goes. In addition to this, sandbags that have been used to soak up water contain the same materials the water did. If the water was contaminated by chemicals, the sandbags are unsafe. In many more cases, the offensive contaminant is feces. Used sandbags must be disposed of at a proper landfill for this reason.

The military uses sandbags to fortify defenses instead of as water soakers. The cheapness of using sandbags to create fortifications around buildings is a major plus, and so many different methods have been put into place which use sandbags for fortification. One such method is to create bags in shapes that allow them to be interlocked like bricks so that a portable defense structure is quickly created. Military leaders have also taken special ingredients and used them to create longer-use sandbags due to the fact that plain burlap and soil sandbags can fall apart and rot very quickly. Sandbags have even been used to create temporary housing for holding prisoners of war.

Less pressing uses of sandbags include disposable weights for theater sets and gas air balloons. These simple little creations have been used for hundreds of years and are still used today for a variety of tasks.