The goal of this project was to investigate the current sediment depths of an effluent system lagoon. To accomplish that, a Teledyne Oceanscience remotely operated hydrographic survey z-boat equipped with an Odom CV 100 dual frequency 33/200 KHz transducer was used to perform the survey.
The high-frequency (200kHz) recorded the top layer of material while the low frequency (33kHz) penetrated the silt/ fluff and returned the hard bottom. By using the data collected from both frequencies and knowing the original depth of the lagoon and the water surface elevation, it was possible to calculate the water volume, as well as the light sludge and the heavy sludge volume in the body of water. Those volumes will be used by the client to determine if the lagoon needs dredging.
A z-boat was chosen for this job due to easy launching and to collect shallower soundings. Because of the nature of work, McKim & Creed’s team had to coordinate partial shutdown of aerators with the plant operators to survey the entire project area.