In February 2025, Brownline Canada provided gyro steering services for a very special job in eastern Alberta. A pipeline for a raw water intake was installed through horizontal directional drilling, exiting at the bottom of a frozen lake!
Drinking water for First Nations
In the First Nations community of Frog Lake, a new water treatment plant will be constructed. Raw water will be pumped from Frog Lake to this plant, to then be distributed as drinking water. This infrastructure upgrade will greatly benefit the local Indigenous community. For the installation of the 12” intake pipeline, a horizontal directional drill was carried out with a length of nearly 1200 m / 4000 ft.
As prime contractor, Arc Trenchless Solutions contacted Brownline Canada to guide this pilot drill with the Drillguide Gyro Steering Tool. A mud motor assembly was used and the crossing was drilled by Brothers HDD. The exit point was in the lakebed, after drilling about one-third of its trajectory under the lake.
To reduce the risk of inadvertent mud returns, annular pressure measurements were logged throughout the pilot drill using the Pressure-While-Drilling sensors in the Drillguide GST. By controlling the borehole pressure, the safety risks for this project were mitigated.
Measuring from the frozen lake surface
With our GPS track equipment, we were able to perform additional verifications of the drill head position near exit, measuring from the frozen surface of the lake. This combination of Drillguide GST and GPS track ensured total control of the punch-out. Ice roads were needed in order to access the exit site, where the downhole assembly was retrieved from underwater.
By relying on the accuracy of our tools, this crossing was completed in the safest and most efficient way possible.
Watch the videos below for an overview of the frozen lake (media courtesy of Brothers HDD).
