Dam Safety Program Manager - Chief Dam Safety Engineer Colorado Parks and Wildlife Denver, CO
Abstract Description: Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) is the largest single dam owner in the State of Colorado. Maintaining a portfolio of dams in safe operating condition requires regular dam rehabilitation construction projects. CPW regularly retains the services of professional engineering consultants to complete engineering evaluation and design for dam safety rehabilitation construction projects. Following completion of design and solicitation of a construction contractor, CPW oftentimes continues retaining the professional engineering consultant to complete construction oversight for the project(s). The goal of retaining the engineer for construction oversight is to ensure an extra set of qualified eyes are on-site during critical construction milestones, to document the construction activities, and catch errors before construction is complete and the contractor demobilizes. Based on CPW staff availability and familiarity with the design, the goal of professional engineering construction oversight is to ultimately add value to CPW.
CPW has realized a wide range of results from construction oversight services during recent construction projects. Success of these oversight services is affected by many factors including contractor quality and workmanship, experience of the engineer's inspector(s), regularity of the oversight, etc. Ultimately, CPW qualifies the success of the oversight based on the delivery and long-term performance of each completed rehabilitation project. Four case study projects are presented herein: Two Buttes Dam, North Michigan Creek Dam, Haviland Dam, and Davis #3 Dam. These projects represent a range of outcomes from very positive resultant project with minimal construction oversight, to an unfortunately negative resultant project with significant construction oversight efforts.
CPW has many lessons learned and identified potential pitfalls to avoid when entering into a construction oversight agreement, some of the prominent lessons are: 1. Be Wary of splitting oversight responsibilities with the engineer; 2. Be Picky about the staff that is proposed and selected for oversight; 3. Be Involved in the weekly correspondence and documentation with the engineer – know what is going-on at the site; 4. Be Familiar with the selected contractor, their capabilities and experience, and their attention to detail; 5. Understand that even the best engineers and contractors make mistakes – and these always result in impacts to the owner (financial, schedule, publicity, etc);
CPW believes in the good-faith intentions of contractors and consultants, but that doesn’t mean that mistakes won’t happen. Competent engineering construction oversight provides an extra set of eyes that can catch errors and fix them before they become significant owner impacts.
Learning Objectives:
Learn about a series of case study CPW dam rehab projects that included professional engineering oversight, but that had a range of outcomes.
Define the goals of engineering oversight, and understand the value to the dam owner.
Review of lessons learned and potential pitfalls, for dam rehabilitation engineering construction oversight activities, from an owner's perspective.
