AMEC, the international project management and services company, has been awarded a contract by the Flood Control District of Maricopa County to provide up to $500,000 (Approx. £251,000) in on-call dam-safety geotechnical services over the next two years.

It is the fifth such on-call contract awarded to AMEC's Tempe office, highlighting the District's satisfaction with past work and realization that AMEC provides high-level, value-added dam-safety expertise. The award is a key win for AMEC's dam, levee and flood control business practice.

The contract covers a broad range of engineering services that may be needed for the assessment, repair or rehabilitation of dams. Field investigations such as test pits, borings, material sampling and material testing are anticipated to be required, according to the District. Additional technical services may include surveying, hydrology and hydraulics, geology, geomorphology, structural engineering, aerial mapping, biological sciences, archaeology, landscape architecture, and public involvement.

While services could apply to any of the District's 22 earthen flood-control dams, Saddleback Flood Retention Structure in western Maricopa County and Cave Buttes Dam east of Phoenix are considered the most likely candidates.

AMEC has worked on seven of the dams already, including McMicken Dam, for which AMEC won an American Council of Engineering Companies Honor Award last year for remediation of the earth-fissure-threatened southern end of the dam.