Tuttle Creek Lake dredging project starting this summer

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the contractors are making final preparations for a unique water injection dredging project at Tuttle Creek Lake.

According to the Army Corps, the water injection dredging study and demonstration at Tuttle Creek Lake is set to begin this summer.

The Kansas Water Office (KWO), in partnership with the Corps of Engineers and Michels Construction, will implement the Water Injection Dredging (WID) demonstration project at Tuttle Creek Lake to promote sustainable long-term reservoir sediment management.

WID is a process in which large volumes of water are injected at low pressure into the sediment bed near the bottom of the reservoir through the use of pumps and a series of nozzles located on a horizontal pipe positioned above the sediment bed.

The injected water effectively fluidizes the sediment creating a ‘ density current’ that allows the sediment to flow by gravity to deeper areas.

In the case of Tuttle Creek Lake, the proposed WID demonstration project is aimed at moving the sediment toward the existing low level outlet in the dam and monitoring the flow of the density current through the outlet during controlled discharges.

Successful demonstration of WID technology at Tuttle Creek Lake will help to advance other innovative methods aimed at extending the life of reservoir storage in Kansas, including the use of WID with hydrosuction or other sustainable sediment management techniques.