The company has been named the prime consultant assisting the US Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), Division of Water and Power, Branch of Dam Safety, update its Safety of Dams Program Handbook. The key objectives for this work include integrating a risk-informed decision process to all dam safety program activities and elements following the Department of Interior Public Protection Guidelines; incorporating current industry standards and BIA practices; and defining future roles of BIA and supporting partners in the dam safety program. The handbook contains comprehensive policies and guidelines related to risk management; risk assessments; safety inspections; engineering evaluations; design and construction for risk reductions; permitting; emergency management; monitoring; operation and maintenance; early warning systems; dam security; and training.
In another contract, GEI will provide on-call professional services through a new master services agreement (MSA) with the town of Castle Rock, Colo. The municipal utilities department has selected GEI to provide services in water resource planning and engineering, and water and wastewater engineering.
GEI is also broadening its longstanding working relationship with Denver Water by including environmental planning and water resource planning services for the utility.
Previous assignments have included dam and reservoir design, construction and inspections, raw water pipeline planning and design, and ecological and permitting support services for water project developments.
The company also announced that it is providing design and construction stage engineering for the Hodgson-Harris Dam/Reservoir rehabilitation project near Superior, Colorado. Work will focus on restoring the dam to enable the reservoir to store its historic water volume, while addressing identified dam safety concerns. Specific primary improvements include partial replacement of the dam embankment to include a drain/filter zone, emergency spillway replacement, and a new, enlarged primary outlet structure. Work on the project began in September 2012 and is expected to be finished in late December, 2013.
Finally, the company recently completed a Dam Inundation Map for Colorado's Tucker Lake. The lake is adjacent to both the Blunn Reservoir and Ralston Creek and is contained by both a north and south dam. GEI performed dam breach analyses and flood inundation mapping for each of the drainage channels assuming a separate "worst case" scenario for each dam.
