Project Specifics

The North Texas Municipal Water District is completing the construction of the Lower Bois d’Arc Creek Reservoir to meet growing water demands in North Texas.

Geosyntec Scope of Services

At a cost of $1.6 billion, when complete, the reservoir will impound more than 367,000 acre-feet of water. The reservoir will provide stable, potable water to the region and support recreational activities. Water will be piped through a raw water pipeline from the new lake to a new water treatment plant 35 miles away, providing water to a rapidly growing population of 1.7 million Texans. Construction on the 2-mile-long, 90-foot-tall dam began in May 2018; the project is expected to be complete in 2023.

Geosyntec’s responsibilities include dam safety monitoring using geotechnical instrumentation. Geosyntec was part of General Contractor’s team to procure, install, and monitor the geotechnical instrumentation devices during the construction of the dam. The geotechnical instrumentation network includes 35 inclinometers, 106 piezometers, 16 settlement cells, 2 barometers, 127 survey monuments, and 11 data acquisition systems.  Our team managed pre-construction submittals, equipment procurement, and instrument installation and assembly.

Geosyntec also became part of the owner’s team to provide post-construction dam safety monitoring. As part of the dam safety program, Geosyntec will continue to operate and maintain the instrumentation data management systems and prepare geotechnical instrumentation data reports.

Geosyntec uses a secured cloud-based platform to collect and visualize data in real time from instruments that are part of an automated network of dataloggers powered by solar panels and cellular and radio networks. The platform interface uses a web browser that allows the dam operation team to view the data on mobile devices as it is collected in real time and receive email or text alert notifications.

Notable Accomplishments

The geotechnical instrumentation and monitoring system developed by Geosyntec has improved the dam safety program and will provide frequent and remote access to the data when needed. The remote geotechnical instrumentation and monitoring system has relatively low maintenance and operation cost and allows timely access to the monitoring data in crucial stages of the dam operation.

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