Dam Monitoring

Dam owners and operators have to watch ageing embankment and concrete dams whose records are often scattered across folders, spreadsheets and separate systems, while instrumenting or surveying a whole structure is costly. Rezatec's Dam Monitoring is a web-based platform that centralises each dam's record (inspection reports, Emergency Action Plans, instrumentation, water-level, rainfall and survey data) and adds satellite-derived insight across the entire dam.

Ground movement comes from satellite radar interferometry (InSAR) using European Space Agency radar satellites: a three-year retrospective analysis sets a baseline of each dam's normal behaviour, and monthly updates flag millimetre-level movement outside seasonal norms or trends. Possible seepage is flagged from multispectral indices of ground moisture and vegetation vigour. The platform adds a risk matrix for potential failure modes, change alerts, 3D mapping, charts that compare datasets over time, buildings and addresses in the downstream flood zone for Emergency Action Plan updates, and seismic, weather and wildfire alerts.

Rezatec states that it provides whole-dam movement and seepage data for roughly the cost of one or two physical sensors. Named customers include Hunter Water (Grahamstown and Chichester dams, Australia), the City of Spokane (Upriver Dam), the Bella Vista Property Owners Association and SJWD. Hunter Water reports that the satellite data detects movement of one to two millimetres, against 20 to 30 millimetres from its drone surveys.