Northridge Lakes Dam

The drawdown pipe in the dam was leaking at Northridge Lakes, a 44-acre lake surrounded by a residential neighborhood that is tucked within a highly urban area in Milwaukee. The Wisconsin DNR ordered the owner to fix the leak to mitigate erosion issues.

Since the pipe was located under the lake and the depth of the lake was unknown, various contractors were wary of taking on this project. There was somewhat of a challenge to finding a contractor willing to make the repairs. raSmith offered to use their remote-controlled hydrone to expeditiously collect the needed survey data for lake bottom contours. This advanced survey technology enabled raSmith to provide more depth measurements in a fraction of the time for traditional methods. With the additional survey data, bids were obtained, and a contractor was hired to successfully replace the drawdown pipe.