More Bang for your Buck? Making Instrumentation Worth the Investment

Dams are huge investments and are expensive to maintain and repair. A robust instrumentation plan that collects a wealth of data can provide insights to quickly address short-term needs and to help maintain the dam’s long-term health. The technology installed at the North Texas Municipal Water District’s (NTMWD or the District) new Bois d’Arc Lake dam has demonstrated its value during dam construction and integration into their new water supply system. The District’s experience illustrates how dam owners and operators can get the most out of their instrumentation. In creating the Bois d’Arc Lake water supply system, the District partnered with Freese and Nichols, Inc. (FNI) to develop and implement an instrumentation plan that addressed multiple challenges regarding maintenance, data acquisition, data management, data interpretation, and long-term reliability. This paper will present lessons learned from design, construction, and monitoring of six years of data, and explain how to make instrumentation worth the investment. We’ll cover: • The value and cost of dam instrumentation • The quantity of instrumentation required • Data acquisition and analysis • Long-term maintenance and owner responsibilities