Drone Leak Investigation · Fraser Valley
Reservoir & Dam Seepage Detection in Mission, BC
Thermal and visual reconnaissance of earthen dams, dikes, reservoirs, and embankments — seepage exit points, wet zones on downstream faces, and anomalous vegetation mapped without crews walking unstable slopes. Flown by Transport Canada-certified RPAS pilots and confirmed by the ground crews serving Mission and the Fraser Valley region — since 1999 as BC's leak detection specialists.
Free phone consult · No pressure · Mon–Sat 8am–6pm PT
Flying Mission: local context
Hillside homes and floodplain industry — terrain that makes ground access slow is exactly where aerial wins.
Local property profile: Hillside homes with long gravity-fed service runs, heritage downtown, and floodplain industry.
Ground conditions: Hillside till scans well between rock outcrops; the floodplain industrial flats are wetter. Slope properties put services shallow and traceable.
Typical reservoir & dam seepage detection work around Mission
- Hillside roof surveys
- Industrial flat inspections
- Earthen dams and saddle dams
- Dikes and flood-protection embankments
- Water supply and irrigation reservoirs
How the Mission survey runs
- 1
Structure briefing
Drawings, prior inspection reports, and known wet areas frame the survey. We coordinate with the owner's dam-safety engineer so the data lands inside their existing surveillance program.
- 2
Thermal face mapping
Groundwater and seepage water hold a stable temperature year-round while surfaces swing with the weather — exit points and wet zones contrast clearly in the right window. The full downstream face, abutments, and toe are mapped in one flight.
- 3
Visual + vegetation pass
High-resolution visual imagery captures the classic secondary indicators: preferentially green vegetation strips, cattail colonisation, soft-ground texture, and animal-burrow activity along the toe.
- 4
Georeferenced report
Thermal anomalies and visual indicators plotted on the structure, compared against any previous survey, and delivered in a format your engineer-of-record can take straight into the surveillance file.
Mission questions, answered
How does thermal imaging find seepage on a dam?
Seepage water originates underground, where temperature is stable — roughly 8–12 °C in much of BC — while the embankment surface follows air temperature. In warm weather a seep reads cold against the face; in cold snaps it reads warm. Flown in the right contrast window, exit points and saturated zones stand out measurably, including early-stage wet areas a walking inspection can miss.
Does this replace our dam safety inspections?
No, and we will not pretend otherwise. BC dam owners operate under the Dam Safety Regulation with defined surveillance obligations run by their engineer-of-record. What we provide is reconnaissance data — full-face, repeatable, georeferenced — that makes those inspections better targeted, and a safe way to look at faces and toes that are hazardous to walk.
Can you survey dikes and flood embankments too?
Yes — linear flood-protection works are ideal drone subjects: long, uniform, and tedious to walk. Kilometres of dike face and toe are mapped per flight day, with anomalies geotagged for follow-up. Post-freshet and post-storm baselines are the common triggers in BC.
Can you legally fly drone leak surveys in Mission?
Yes — our pilots hold Transport Canada RPAS certification with advanced-operations capability, and Mission flights run under whatever airspace authorizations the location requires. Hillside homes and floodplain industry — terrain that makes ground access slow is exactly where aerial wins. Flight planning, NOTAM checks, and authorizations are part of the service, not your problem.
How do Mission ground conditions affect what the survey reads?
Mission ground is predominantly steep till and bedrock benches above Fraser floodplain. Hillside till scans well between rock outcrops; the floodplain industrial flats are wetter. Slope properties put services shallow and traceable. For buried-leak work that matters: escaping water changes the moisture and thermal behaviour of exactly that ground, and our analysts interpret the surface signal against the local soil character — then our acoustic ground crews confirm the suspect zones before anyone digs.
What does reservoir & dam seepage detection cost in Mission?
Province-wide pricing — no regional premium for Mission. Single-site surveys typically start in the high hundreds; network corridors, portfolios, and multi-asset programs are quoted by scope. The free phone consult (604-239-9934) produces a firm number in about five minutes.
Other drone leak services in Mission
Stormwater Pond & Outfall Leak Survey in Mission
Detention ponds, retention facilities, outfalls, and culverts surveyed for exfiltration, berm seepage, and bypass flow — the drainage infrastructure nobody can see failing until something downstream floods or erodes.
View serviceUnderground Water Main Leak Survey in Mission
Aerial thermal screening of buried water mains and service corridors — kilometres of distribution line surveyed per flight, leak-suspect zones mapped for targeted ground confirmation. The screening layer that shrinks non-revenue water programs from guesswork to a short list.
View serviceWater Tank & Standpipe Leak Inspection in Mission
Municipal reservoirs, standpipes, elevated tanks, and rooftop tanks inspected by drone — shell weeps, overflow malfunction, wet insulation, saturated foundations, and coating failure documented without ladders, lifts, or confined-space entry.
View serviceAerial Moisture Orthomosaic Mapping in Mission
The deliverable layer: survey-grade, georeferenced moisture orthomosaics — radiometric thermal fused with RTK photogrammetry — exported to CAD and GIS for engineers, consultants, and owners who need leak evidence they can measure from.
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Reservoir & Dam Seepage Detection near Mission
Need reservoir & dam seepage detection in Mission?
Free phone consult — site, access, airspace, and a firm quote in five minutes. No pressure.