Getting TANKED

Diving crew checks out Cornelius’ water facility and comes up with a smidgen of sediment

By Mateusz Perkowski

The Forest Grove News-Times, Aug 16, 2006, Updated Aug 16, 2006

Mateusz Perkowski / News-Times

In his career as a diver, Jason Fitzpatrick has never uncovered pirate’s treasure or a long-forgotten shipwreck.

Of course, he isn’t out exploring the deep seas. Instead, he ventures inside water towers and reservoirs across the country – and his most dramatic discoveries have involved dead rodents and birds.

“I tell some people, ‘Why do you think your water tastes like chlorine?’” Fitzpatrick said.

Luckily, no such findings were made when Fitzpatrick’s diving crew – part of the LiquiVision Technology company – inspected and cleaned the water reservoir in Cornelius last Friday.

All they found was one-eighth of an inch of sediment, which they removed with the patented LiquiVac underwater vacuum.

“I’m surprised they didn’t find any former staff or city council members in there,” joked Richard Meyers, development and operations director for Cornelius, which last year went through a spate of high-profile staff changes.

The reservoir was last cleaned 15 years ago, when public works staff completed the job the old fashioned way: by draining the water and climbing in the tank.

“It’s a lot more time consuming,” said Mark Crowell, Cornelius operations manager. “This way, we don’t have to risk not having any backup water.”

Aside from keeping gunk from entering people’s drinking water, the LiquiVision crew’s other purpose was to get a peak at the inner structure of the reservoir. Cracks, leaks, and other problems must be repaired before they become serious. Elsewhere, decrepit tanks have burst and flooded residential areas.

In the case of the Cornelius reservoir, the crew didn’t come across any serious issues, so nearby residents don’t need to worry about being crushed by a 1.5 million-gallon wave anytime soon. However, the diver did notice some exposed rebar in the walls, which the crew will grind down and cover with an epoxy during another underwater excursion in the coming months, said Fitzpatrick.

To document the conditions within the reservoir, the diver, Justin Davis, wore a helmet equipped with lights, communication equipment, and a video camera.

While he cleaned and searched for structural faults, Fitzpatrick sat in a nearby trailer, taking notes, operating the recording equipment, and regulating Davis’ oxygen levels. A third crew member, Jeff Ney, stood atop the tank, fielding requests from the diver.

Crew members alternate their roles from job site to job site so each gets an equal turn at diving, and they share the burden of getting the equipment to the top of the water tower. Pulling up each pump, cable, hose, and piece of the diving equipment with a rope – and then back down again – takes hours.

“It’s the worst part of the job,” said Ney, adding that Cornelius’ 30-foot water tower wasn’t much of an obstacle compared to their other projects. “This is the shortest one we’ve done.”

Some of the water towers they’ve tackled were 200 feet, which made their job more challenging – and risky.

Often, it’s the tallest towers that have the fewest safety features near the top, which Ney regards as a serious design flaw. Constantly working at high altitude takes some time to get used to, he said. “It’s freaky at first.”

Another potential pitfall involves getting the “bends,” which is a nickname for decompression illness. The disease is induced when people rise too rapidly from a high-pressure environment – like the bottom of a large tank, or the deep sea – to a low pressure environment; when this happens, nitrogen in the blood expands into gas and forms bubbles in the blood. It commonly causes joint pain, dizziness, rash and other symptoms, but severe cases can result in neurological damage or death.

The bends are certainly a danger for the LiquiVision crew, which is why they must cut their work time in tanks greater than 30 feet tall. In a 100 foot tank, for example, the diver can only work for 25 minutes or so before resurfacing.

However, the hazard is smaller than it is for deep sea divers working on oil rigs and platforms, which was Fitzpatrick and Nye’s previously line of work.

Isolation from friends, family, and the outside world is another downside to off-shore work. The LiquiVision crew members lead a nomadic lifestyle; they work nonstop for two or three weeks at a time, and then go home for a week to rest. To some, this schedule may seem crazy, but it pales in comparison to spending months in the middle of the ocean.

“It’s better than living offshore for 60 days on end, or even longer. I sleep at a motel pretty much every day, but at least I get to be around civilization,” Nye said, adding that traveling to places like Cornelius also has its subtle charms. “You get to see a lot of cool small towns.”