Water Injection Dredging (WID) Study & Demonstration at Tuttle Creek Lake
Purpose
To demonstrate successful application of Water Injection Dredging, or WID, technology at Tuttle Creek Lake, with the ultimate goal of sustaining long term use of Tuttle Creek Lake, and potentially other Kansas reservoirs, for all of its authorized purposes.
For updates on this project visit the Army Corps of Engineers page.
Background & Project Objective
Tuttle Creek Lake, like many of the other Kansas reservoirs, continues to lose capacity due to sedimentation at an accelerated rate. Recent estimates from the Kansas Water Office indicate that approximately 46% of Tuttle Creek Lake’s original storage capacity has been lost due to sedimentation. Tuttle Creek Lake is a vital resource within the Kansas River Basin, and its continued loss of capacity and impending impact to the authorized purposes is a major concern for the state of Kansas. 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.
The Kansas Water Office (KWO), in partnership with the Corps of Engineers, plans to implement a 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 would be 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. Sediment fluidization testing performed by the Corps' of Engineers' Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) with sediment from Tuttle Creek Lake (video below) demonstrates the mechanics of the water injection dredging process.
Partners
The Kansas Water Office has been working with representatives from the Kansas City District Corps of Engineers as well as representatives from the Corps' of Engineers' Engineer Research and Development Center.
Proposed Concepts & Activities
The proposed demonstration project includes the following major concepts:
- Construction of a WID prototype
- Demonstration of the WID prototype at Tuttle Creek Lake at different reservoir elevations and flow discharges
- Monitoring and evaluation of both the operational and environmental results
Prior to the demonstration, an implementation plan, including monitoring and communications/outreach strategies, will be developed. The KWO is currently engaged with the Corps, agency partners, and stakeholders within the basin to discuss the project and begin developing the monitoring plan and strategies for measuring project success.
KWO will continue its partnership with the Corps of Engineers and the Corps’ Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC) to provide technical and financial resources for ongoing research, onsite field data collection, lab studies and numerical analysis to move forward with implementation of the WID demonstration project at Tuttle Creek Lake.