The inspection was jointly executed by Sacyr Maintenance and Sacyr Agua/Sacyr Water, in a clear example of collaboration between Sacyr Group companies. Thanks to Sacyr Agua/Sacyr Water ‘s remotely operated underwater drone, we have been able to inspect submerged areas to assess the necessity of repairing damaged zones that the drone has picked up by imaging.
The drone is a small submarine fitted with a video camera, sensors, and several accessories. It is equipped with physical and chemical sensors, such as pH, conductivity, chlorophyll, and turbidity levels, which helps us profile reservoir depths. Sacyr Agua/Sacyr Water uses this underwater drone to improve the efficiency of water treatment plants.
“With the underwater drone, we save on operation and maintenance costs, improve the efficiency of water treatment plants, and we monitor and conserve natural environs like rivers, lakes, reservoirs, seas, etc.” explains Patricia Terrero, R+D+I technician of Sacyr Agua/Sacyr Water. Additionally, these drone underwater inspections are faster and safer than traditional inspections performed by divers, which in turn allows us to conduct them more frequently.
“During the Villameca inspection, we checked the state of the bottom outlet piping, its mouth, the bottom of the reservoir, the desilting drain, and the upstream parapet wall. Likewise, in the Barrios de Luna dam, apart from obtaining very useful data on the state of the dam around the bottom outlet, we obtained interesting information about the morphology of the upstream parapet wall at the dam’s central blocks, and about the state of the water intake at the foot of dam hydro plant”, explains Ángel Francisco Nistal Cordero, Head of Coordination of the Center for the Sacyr Maintenance Contract.
Villameca dam
The Villameca dam was built between 1935 and 1946 and is owned by the Confederación Hidrográfica del Duero (CHD); it is situated at the origin of the Tuerto river, in the locality of Villameca, municipality of Quintana del Castillo, province of León. The reservoir has a 18,300 Hm3 capacity, and it is used for irrigation purposes, to supply drinking water to the city of Astorga, and for hydroelectric water resource use.
It also has two 296 and 269-meter-long dikes for another two smaller reservoirs.
Barrios de Luna dam
The Barrios de Luna dam was constructed between 1945 and 1959 and is owned by the Confederación Hidrográfica del Duero (CHD); it is situated in the Luna river, in the municipalities of Los Barrios de Luna and Sena de Luna, in León province. The reservoir has a 308 Hm3 capacity, and it is used for irrigation purposes, to supply drinking water to the city of Astorga, and for hydroelectric water resource use.
Sacyr Maintenance is the Sacyr Group company specialized in the conservation, maintenance, and exploitation of infrastructures. In the past year, it has undergone considerable growth and expansion in conservation, maintenance, and exploitation of water infrastructure, due to becoming awardee of the contracts of the right-of-use, conservation, and actualization of the safety documents of State-owned dams and reservoirs within the CHD Exploitation Zones A, D, E, and F. This means that the company’s backlog encompasses the conservation of more than 15 great dams, making it an industry leader.