General News
30 May, 2024
GMW lake inspections off to a flying start
Drones are playing an increasingly significant role in keeping Goulburn-Murray Water’s (GMW) lakes, dams, and reservoirs safe and secure. GMW recently rolled out drone competency and mission plan training to about 25 of its storage officers spread...
Drones are playing an increasingly significant role in keeping Goulburn-Murray Water’s (GMW) lakes, dams, and reservoirs safe and secure.
GMW recently rolled out drone competency and mission plan training to about 25 of its storage officers spread across northern Victoria.
In addition to these staff obtaining their drone Operator Accreditation, the training helped show them how drone use could create efficiencies in their daily work.
GMW Storage Operations South manager Paul Beard said the expanded use of drones had the potential to be highly beneficial.
“Our storages are crucial pieces of infrastructure, and we undertake regular inspections of all of them to ensure they are safe and in prime operating condition,” he said.
“A lot of these inspections have been done in person, but we have recently trialled inspecting several of them using drones.”
The embankment at Lake Eppalock is one of the first areas where GMW trialled the drone inspections.
Mr Beard said these flights had shown a lot of promise.
“Usually, we would have someone walk the embankment and look for any cracks, movement, or changes,” he said.
“Staff would walk across a narrow gravel track midway up the spillway, and the path was a little hazardous in some areas.
“Using a drone has helped us complete these inspections more efficiently and safely. The data we get from them is also more consistent, which is important for our dam safety responsibilities.”
Storage officers are also investigating the usage of drones as a compliance measure, such as using them to monitor five knot zones at GMW storages and capture the licence plates of any offending vessels.
GMW Survey Services manager Avni Bekirofski said there was plenty to be gained from expanding the corporation’s drone fleet.
“In recent years the Surveying Services Team has benefited greatly from the use of drones, by way of data capture and remote access,” he said.
“We’re a relatively small team that covers a massive region, so having more people trained and confident in using technology like drones will create significant efficiencies in other areas of our business.
“It is great to see our storage staff already finding new uses for the drones that support GMW operations, so we are eager to see and benefit from more innovation in this area.”