Barge Assisted Core Drilling

The San Vicente Dam Raise Project, located in San Diego County, California, was an emergency water storage project designed to increase the capacity of the existing reservoir by 52,000 acre-feet. The existing 220-foot concrete dam was to be raised 117 feet. Upon completion, it would be the tallest dam raise in the United States, and the tallest of its kind in the world.

Team Members

San Diego County Water Authority

GEI Consultants

Crux Subsurface

Crux’s Role

Crux provided drilling and sampling services along the shoreline of the reservoir at multiple locations. Due to past fires, the existing ground conditions were extremely sensitive to disturbance.  Crux techniques eliminated the need to excavate for drill pads at the boring locations, and impact to the sites was minimized by using a non-aggressive rubber track carrier to transport materials and equipment.

Due to the steep topography of the shoreline and remoteness of the boring locations, Crux utilized a custom barge system that allowed for a track-mounted drill rig to be transported to the shore of each boring location. The track rig and other necessary equipment were used to access hard-to-reach borings from the barge.

Borings were drilled to depths of 300 feet using HQ3 core drilling systems.  Drill spoils were removed and transported back to the staging locations using Crux’s barge.  Site reclamation was not necessary as Crux had minimized impact to the project site

Crux’s custom equipment and unique access methods eliminated the need for site reclamation.

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