Newsroom

Hydrographic Surveying

Just in case anyone was wondering, Hydrographic surveying is not for the faint-of-stomach. It is also something that is often over looked when it comes to construction and engineering on the waterfront. That is a terrible thing to see, because if more people knew about hydrographic surveying they would take to it well! All that is required is some math, some equipment, and a boat.

Really it is more complicated than that, but who would not want to spend a day out on a boat figuring out the extent of how far a river floods out to, or the depth and flow of the water around a city. It’s often such an over looked job though because most people do not realize the importance to cities and urban growth that Hydrographic surveying provides.

Failing to map out the floodplains and the flow patterns of the water and rivers around an area, when cities expand into new areas, may find themselves flooded during rainy seasons. To entirely redirect river flows can ruin an ecosystem or end up turning the water right back onto the construction being done.

This should not be any surprise why this is all a dangerous thing with which to be dealing! When it comes down to it, hydrographic surveying can save lives, just by being out on that boat and figuring out the volume of a body of water! It can also save companies and cities lots of money by checking out the conditions around watery areas first. The last thing anyone wants to be doing is building up an entire city on an area that's just going to sink into a river or ocean, much like the problem with Venice, Italy these days.

If anything can be said about hydrographic surveying, it’s not that it is just a wet noodle of a science! It’s really more fun than people give it credit. In case you do not find it as fun, that is what I am here. So before anyone sets out for that dredging project, they should make sure to dig through the different kinds of surveying I can offer. On the waterfront, I provide a number of boats designed and specifically built for this kind of equipment!