One of the many Texas Engineering Landmarks in celebration of Texas ASCE’s Centennial: 1913-2013 “Engineering a Better Texas.” Visit them all!
CHECK BEFORE YOU GO! Park Hours 9:00 am to 6:00 pm daily, weather permitting. No entry after 5:30 pm. Recreational activities, such as swimming, end at 5:30 pm. Call (512) 264-2740 for daily updates. Sometimes the park is closed due to heavy rain or high bacteria levels; again, check the public information line at 512-264-2740. The message is updated daily at 9 am, or when rain changes our status during the day.
Visits to the upstream creek are also welcomed.
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Hamilton Pool Restoration
ASCE TEXAS SECTION OUTSTANDING CIVIL ENGINEERING ACHIEVEMENT (OCEA) AWARD 2012
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How do you get it done? “You hire the right people and get started.” -- Dr. Victoria Harkins PhD PE, Project Manager for the restoration
Hamilton Pool is a natural swimming pool which has been a landmark natural feature in the Texas Hill Country and Austin area for centuries. In 2007, Hamilton Pool and its sources – Hamilton and Davis Creeks – were inundated with silt run-off from an upstream residential development. To restore water quality, Espey Consultants was requisitioned to remove over 7,500 cubic yards of silt from the pool and contributing creek system. As Dr. Victoria Harkins PhD PE, Project Manager for the restoration, put it, “We are undoing years of sedimentation and silt that occurred in one summer.” Dr. Harkins recommended and implemented a restoration plan which included a combination of water jetting and slurry extraction and a filtration system which was able to remove up to nine feet of silt from the bottom surface of Hamilton Pool.
Cleaning 6 miles of creeks took a lot of sweat equity. Most of the work was done with fire hoses and brooms. Then came saving the pool itself.
Due to limited access, a 90-ton crane was used to lower a barge with attached pump down a 50-foot drop-off into Hamilton Pool. Dive teams working in eight-hour, daily shifts were given the task of suctioning silt deposits from the depths of Hamilton Pool. Once pumped to the barge and back up the cliff, the silt-permeated water was pumped 3,100 feet to a network of mix and filter tanks. A shaker unit was employed for the purpose of removing pebbles and other small material before the water was deposited into mix tanks. Once thoroughly mixed, the silt water was then transferred to filtration tanks at which point the solids and water separation occurred. Once separated, the sediment-free water was pumped back into the Pool via Hamilton Creek.
Water quality measurements were taken on a routine basis at designated pool locations, at the shaker unit, and filtration discharge tank to ensure dissolved oxygen, conductivity, and pH readings remained at acceptable safe levels.
Up to nine feet of silt and sediment was removed from the bottom surface of the Pool. Clarity of the water improved from less than a meter to more than four meters in less than a week post sediment removal. The project was completed in April 2011.
This outstanding feat of engineering was completed on time and approximately $100,000 under budget, and received state and national recognition for its uniqueness, technical value to the engineering profession, and its success at meeting the needs of the client.
AWARDS:
2012 American Council of Engineering Companies Texas Gold Medal (Environmental Gold Medal) (
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ACEC 2012 Texas Eminent Conceptor Award
2012 ACEC National Recognition Award
“Victoria Harkins Receives ACEC Honors” (
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American Society of Civil Engineers Texas Outstanding Civil Engineering Award 2012 (
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RECORDS:
Owner- Travis County, Parks Director, Charles Berg
Engineer/Contractor- Espey Consultants, Inc. dba Harkins Engineering, Inc., Project Manager, Victoria Harkins PhD PE
FURTHER READING & VIEWING:
RECOMMENDED!!!
KXAN News “Clean Up Of Fouled Hamilton Creek Starts” (
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KXAN News “Hermine puts creek cleanup to test“ (
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KXAN News “Hamilton Pool Cleanup” (
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ALSO SEE:
ESPEY Consultants News: Hamilton Pool (
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ESPEY Consultants Hamilton Pool Project (
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RPS news archives” Restoration of Hamilton Pool” (
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Harkins Engineering Hamilton Pool Restoration Project (
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Travis County Parks: Hamilton Pool Preserve (
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Balcones Canyonlands Preserve Tier III Travis County Hamilton Pool Preserve Pedernales River Macrosite (
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Hamilton Pool Preserve wikipedia (
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Visit History: Hamilton Pool (
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EARTHCACHE:
GC1K8R1 Hamilton's Plunge Pool (
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