Strike Consulting Group LLC is currently managing the channel stability monitoring and mitigation program on seven stream reaches for a Confidential Client, on Badwater and Alkali Creeks near Lysite, Wyoming. The program is designed to detect whether discharging produced water from adjacent outfalls is creating channel instability and provides the basis for mitigation planning for areas of concern. The assessment reaches were chosen for their representative channel attributes and patterns of deposition and erosion. On a quarterly basis, SCG staff survey each reach to generate planform geometry and evaluate channel evolution and overall stream reach stability. Discharge measurements are taken to refine stage/discharge relation curves and stream load samples are collected to correlate discharge and suspended sediment load.
This project provided a design of utility line relocation and river restoration for 6 reaches on the Middle Fork of the Popo Agie River in response to a flooding event. It included:
In July 2017 Strike Consulting Group was contracted by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality, Water Quality Division to collect groundwater samples from private wells in the area surrounding Pavillion, WY. Previous sampling events proved unable to meet screening criteria which included SVOCs, VOCs, and pesticides. The screening criteria were health risk based values and are not generally targeted specifically for analysis by laboratories.
SCGs goal was to provide supplemental data in order to identify groundwater constituents that are known to cause palatability issues, which were addressed through the completion of additional groundwater monitoring and sampling for a targeted constituent list intended to identify and characterize microbial communities and dissolved gasses in private water supply wells. SCG staff conducted two rounds of sampling at thirteen private wells.
The Owl Creek Watershed Study and Management Plan involved planning, background research, public meetings, and production of a watershed study for the agriculturally based Owl Creek watershed and surrounding area in Hot Springs County, Wyoming. The project included an ecosystem assessment, including review of existing data and description of all major resources including geology, soils, vegetation, wildlife, ground and surface water hydrology, geomorphology, agricultural cropping and rangeland use, evaluation of water use and water scarcity based on USGS and Wyoming State streamgaging systems compared with agricultural use, evaluation of water quality based on a TMDL evaluation of lower Owl Creek, and a summary of industrial, recreational, and municipal land uses in the project area.
The project team conducted over 40 interviews with landowners to determine current water use and potential ways to improve water use efficiency on private lands. Conceptual engineering designs were developed for nearly 90+ projects for potential small-scale water use improvements such as in-channel diversion structures for irrigation, erosion control designs for eroding banks that incorporate the basics of natural channel design, and water-conserving ditch-to-pipe plans. Our team developed a rapport with local landowners and land management agencies through collaborative meetings and on-site sessions. This included the Natural Resources Conservation Service, BLM, the local Hot Springs Conservation District, the Wyoming. Information was synthesized into a cohesive plan that describes the natural resources of the watershed, proposes improvements that will use water more efficiently and effectively to protect those resources, and provides information on potential funding sources and permitting requirements for the identified improvements.
The staff at SCG have permitted more pits and reservoirs than any firm in the history of the State of Wyoming. We served multiple clients engaged in coalbed methane development to site, survey, design, permit, and provide construction oversight on approximately 7,000 locations. These reservoirs ranged in size from rehabilitations of stock reservoirs to large Safety-of-Dam facilities that impounded thousands of acre-feet. In our efforts to take these facilities from inception to reclamation we have provided reclamation planning and oversight on approximately 50 reservoir sites located on private, state, and federal surface. We perform all topographic surveying, soil sampling, grading design, vegetation specification, reclamation oversight, and post-reclamation monitoring of BMPs and vegetation performance. SCG maintains strong relationships with landowners and regulatory agencies to ensure projects are approved quickly to make sure or clients projects are completed on schedule.