In February, 2014 Landmark Consultants was selected by the Colorado River District to perform deformation monitoring at the Ritschard Dam, the 1900’ long dam that impounds the 66,000 acre-foot Wolford Mountain Reservoir in Grand County, Colorado.  Due to excessive movement of the dam the Colorado River District installed 75 deformation monuments on and around the dam and the concrete dam works, emergency spillway, and outlet structure so that continued movement may be tracked and analyzed.  Some of the monuments consist of fixed reflective targets.

Landmark has been tasked with measuring the horizontal and vertical positions of the monuments to a very high degree of accuracy (0.005’ vertically and 0.010’ horizontally), three times per year.  This involves the use of high accuracy robotic total stations, digital levels, and specialized rods and targets to obtain the required tolerances over the large areas that the deformation study encompasses.  The results of our survey are analyzed and converted to x-y-z coordinates to be reported in spreadsheet format for further analysis by District engineers.

Landmark has also performed various topographic surveys for the District in support of their continued maintenance and construction activities downstream of the dam.