Challenge
In the winter of 2022 to 2023, record snowfall was observed in the Eastern Sierra Mountain ranges of California. While this water was welcomed due to the recent drought conditions, it also posed a risk to the water infrastructure in Owens Valley. The amount of snowmelt expected was more than the water collection system could reasonably handle.
Due to this anticipated snowmelt, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) needed to increase real-time monitoring for three of their dams and reservoirs:
- South Haiwee
- Tinemaha
- Long Valley
The objective was to better understand the dams’ conditions and responses.
Solution
The project was overseen by a set of complementary stakeholders:
- LADWP, as the dams’ Owner / Operator
- Stantec, as the Project Engineer
- Specto Technology, as the Instrumentation Solution Provider
- Worldsensing, as the Datalogging and Communications provider
- Bentley Systems, as the Data Visualization Provider
- Geokon and In-Situ, as the sensors manufacturers
This project team sprang into action to deliver an installed and configured system before the peak of the expected snowmelt. Since the snow had already begun melting in the surrounding watershed, it was crucial to proceed with deployment to capture data and ensure optimal risk management.
The team worked around the clock to design, install, configure, and display the metrics from this project in real time, including:
- 18 ThreadX3 connected to field cameras, to register visual observations in real time
- 3 Worldsensing Gateways, allowing long-range communications
- 20 Event detection Tiltmeters to detect any deformation or slope movement, working through Sensemetrics and Bentley iTwin IoT.
- 30 Vibrating Wire logger 1-channel connected to a variety of turbidity sensors and piezometers
The overall system monitored several parameters at the dam, including the reservoir, weir, and piezometer levels at multiple locations for abnormal changes.
Benefits
This project provided LADWP with real-time data to understand how their dams responded to the unprecedented snowmelt loads. It gave the organisation peace of mind, having hourly and synchronized instrumentation monitoring data and images across the remote dam sites, which would have been impossible to do manually.
Advantages
- Increased real-time monitoring capabilities, thanks to the installation and configuration of advanced monitoring systems, including field cameras, gateways, tiltmeters, and various sensors.
- Improved risk management with the set-up of an early warning system, measuring deformation or abnormal changes in water levels.
- Expanded coverage and efficiency. The use of remote monitoring allowed LADWP to collect data of multiple dam sites simultaneously. The automated system provided a comprehensive overview of the dams’ conditions, enabling more efficient and effective management of the water resources.