Dams & Levees

PPI has broad experience with subsurface investigation, laboratory testing, geotechnical engineering, and construction materials testing for earthen dam and levee structures.  PPI’s geotechnical engineering staff has expertise with completion of slope stability analysis and hydrologic and hydraulic analysis of dam and levee structures.  Engineering Manuals published by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) provide the basis for “Standard of Practice” for dam and levee design and construction.  USACE guidance is supplemented and complemented by federal and state regulations and guidance documents, depending upon the Project location and jurisdiction. 

PPI has completed numerous dam projects throughout Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas.  Knowledge of each State’s regulatory requirements and the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Clean Water Act enable PPI’s engineering staff to meet our Clients’ project needs across the four-state region.  Representative projects include:

• Emory Ranch Lake Dam Evaluation; Taney County, MO;
• Fellows Lake Dam Spillway Evaluation and Repair Design; Springfield, MO;
• Huggins Lake Dam Evaluation, Modification Design, and Construction Quality Control; Texas County, MO;
• Lake Fort Smith Dam Enlargement Subsurface Investigation; Mountainburg, AR;
• Lake Pawhuska Dam Evaluation; Pawhuska, OK;
• Mine 19 Slurry Dam Investigation; Cherokee County, KS; and
• White River Ridge Dam Evaluation; Branson, MO.

For the existing Huggins Lake Dam, PPI completed a subsurface investigation; Geotechnical Engineering Report; Design Plans for the dam enlargement and spillway modification; evaluation of on-site borrow materials for strength and permeability; and full-time construction quality control and materials testing.

In 2009 and 2010, PPI was the Geotechnical Engineer of Record, Civil Engineer of Record, and Construction Materials Testing firm for City Utilities of Springfield’s Fellows Lake Dam Spillway Repair.  The spillway slab failed during 2008 flooding, and the slab subgrade was heavily undercut and eroded by both flood and subsurface water flow.  PPI designed a system of cutoff trenches and subsurface drains prior that has performed well during numerous high volume flood events since constructed in 2010.

PPI has held three (3) Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) On-Call Drilling Services Contracts with the St. Louis District USACE: Contract WP912-P9-14-0512 (5-Year, 2014 to 2019, $5MIL Capacity); WP912-P9-09-0552 (5-Year, 2009 to 2014, $5MIL Capacity); and an On-Call Contract from 1993 to 1995. 

Since 2009, PPI has drilled hundreds of borings and installed dozens of groundwater piezometers within the boundaries of the St. Louis District USACE.  The majority of the PPI’s subsurface drilling services have been in support of relief well design, cutoff wall design, and underseepage evaluation.  PPI also completed subsurface drilling and downhole camera investigation of the existing grout curtain in the east abutment of Lake Shelbyville Dam, and ground penetrating radar (GPR) and concrete coring for evaluation of Locks and Dams 24 and 25 on the Mississippi River.