Dams are critical infrastructure resources for the communities they serve

Our reputation for innovation and quality engineering is built on more than 100 years of corporate experience in all types of dam safety assessments as well as the planning, design, and construction of new projects. We have the in-house, multidisciplinary expertise to handle all aspects of project development, including assessing and addressing considerations for environmental impacts, sustainability, and climate change.

We can draw on the skills and experience of an extensive and diverse staff of engineers and scientists in the implementation of conventional dams, hydroelectric dams, and water resource projects—particularly in our specializations in fill dams, concrete dams, and the more specialized roller-compacted concrete (RCC) dams. Our planning and detailed design work includes civil layout, geotechnical programs, stability analyses, remedial works, and data evaluation for instrumentation systems.

Fill Dams
Our team has consistently led the industry in the design of earth and rockfill dams, including specialty designs incorporating asphaltic cores or concrete-faced structures. At three separate times, Stantec has held the record for designing the world’s highest rockfill dam. We have the capabilities and experience for any dam-related project in any region of the world—having designed dam projects on six of the seven continents.

Stantec’s experience includes a full suite of regulatory compliance services, including Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Part 12 dam safety evaluations and potential failure mode analyses (PFMAs). One example included the design, evaluation, and rehabilitation of the 120-foot (36.5-metre) hydraulic, asphalt-lined embankment dam for the upper reservoir at the Seneca Pumped Storage project in Pennsylvania.

Concrete Dams
Stantec is one of the premier world-wide consulting engineering organizations in the planning, design, and construction management of concrete dams. Our team has designed more than 25 new concrete dams of differing types, including gravity, arch, buttress, arch-gravity, and roller-compacted concrete (RCC) dams with heights ranging from 46 to 984 feet (14 to more than 300 metres). One of our recent designs, the Tekeze Hydropower Project in Ethiopia, was named as the 2010 Best Renewable/Sustainable Project of the Year by Power Engineering magazine.

Roller-Compacted Concrete (RCC) Dams
The development of RCC as an alternate construction method for concrete dams offers many advantages over conventional designs. RCC dams offer opportunities for faster construction with simpler constructability (i.e. reduced forming and higher flexibility with concrete designs). The result? Shorter construction schedules and reduced costs. 

Stantec has prepared the design for more than 25 RCC dams and rehabilitation structures, including gravity, thick-arch, buttress, and embankment armoring dams with heights ranging from 45 to more than 980 feet (14 to 300 metres). One of our recent RCC projects is the Olivenhain Dam which, at 308 feet (94 metres), is the tallest RCC dam in the United States.

Reducing risk from extreme flood conditions

With estimated damages exceeding $5 billion, 32 states of local emergency declared, and countless families ordered to evacuate, the 2013 Southern Alberta flood was one of the most devastating and costliest natural disasters in Canadian history. These were just some of the facts faced by the affected communities when they started looking at flood mitigation strategies. One of those mitigation strategies is the Springbank Off-stream Storage Project. Read More

Protecting a water supply for the next 50 years and beyond

The Kentucky River Lock and Dam No. 9 provides the primary water source for more than 325,000 people. It was a century old. And it was definitely in need of some inspection. Recent drought conditions, closure of many of the original navigational locks, and growing stability concerns of the lock and dam structures have prompted several projects on the Kentucky River to address these issues and protect the water supply for the next generation. Read More
Our team are proven leaders in the dam industry
200
Inspections
125
Embankment Dams
1
Tallest RCC
#4
Dams

Our team has conducted more than 200 dam safety inspections over the last 20 years.
Our dam design experts have designed more than 125 earth or rockfill embankment dams.
We designed the highest RCC dam raise in the world, San Vincente.
Ranked #4 in Dams and Reservoirs (Top Design Firms, ENR 2020).

Services


Asset Management Our Stantec Asset Management (SAM) sustainability experts help you find the most accurate, actionable data about your built assets so you can meet your environmental, social, and governance goals.
Construction Management & Inspection From strategy to implementation, our Construction Management & Inspection teams reduce costs and field rework on energy projects..
Due Diligence & Consulting Stantec works with public and private sector clients and financing institutions to provide due diligence and engineering support for asset valuation for acquisition, divestiture, and power and energy projects.
Program Management Our clients have faced a large increase in workload due to various regulatory drivers, aging infrastructure, natural disaster recovery, and customer-focused capital and operational challenges.
Rehabilitation & Upgrades In the hydropower market there has been a shift from new construction to refurbishment, upgrade and life extension of existing facilities.
Planning, Feasibility Studies, and Design Planning-stage decisions to address longer-term risk mitigation are key to cost control. Stantec experts provide comprehensive planning and design services focused on constructability and value.
Licensing & Relicensing Stantec is an industry leader in serving clients as strategic advisors and full-service providers for the FERC licensing and relicensing of hydropower projects.

We’re better together

  • Become a client

    Partner with us today to change how tomorrow looks. You’re exactly what’s needed to help us make it happen in your community.

  • Design your career

    Work with passionate people who are experts in their field. Our teams love what they do and are driven by how their work makes an impact on the communities they serve.