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Drone Leak Investigation · Metro Vancouver

Reservoir & Dam Seepage Detection in West Vancouver, 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 West Vancouver and the Metro Vancouver region — since 1999 as BC's leak detection specialists.

640×512
Radiometric resolution
Full face
Embankment coverage per flight
0 contact
Crew exposure on slopes

Free phone consult · No pressure · Mon–Sat 8am–6pm PT

Flying West Vancouver: local context

Estate roofs and glass-heavy custom homes on steep terrain — aerial access replaces impossible ladder work.

Local property profile: BC's highest-value detached stock — metered water (District leak-adjustment program), estate properties with pools, extensive irrigation, and long private drives.

Ground conditions: Thin rocky soils put most utilities shallow and image crisply; granite below returns nothing, which itself maps where rock starts — useful for excavation planning.

Typical reservoir & dam seepage detection work around West Vancouver

  • Luxury-home roof and envelope thermography
  • Slope-property surveys
  • Earthen dams and saddle dams
  • Dikes and flood-protection embankments
  • Water supply and irrigation reservoirs

How the West Vancouver survey runs

  1. 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. 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. 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. 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.

West Vancouver 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 West Vancouver?

Yes — our pilots hold Transport Canada RPAS certification with advanced-operations capability, and West Vancouver flights run under whatever airspace authorizations the location requires. Estate roofs and glass-heavy custom homes on steep terrain — aerial access replaces impossible ladder work. Flight planning, NOTAM checks, and authorizations are part of the service, not your problem.

How do West Vancouver ground conditions affect what the survey reads?

West Vancouver ground is predominantly rocky till benches over granite, thin soils on the upper British Properties slopes. Thin rocky soils put most utilities shallow and image crisply; granite below returns nothing, which itself maps where rock starts — useful for excavation planning. 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 West Vancouver?

Province-wide pricing — no regional premium for West Vancouver. 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.

Need reservoir & dam seepage detection in West Vancouver?

Free phone consult — site, access, airspace, and a firm quote in five minutes. No pressure.

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