Been in there 3 days so far.?ÿ Taking 5 level shoots at each 20 foot joint. Top and bottom both sides of band and on the band.?ÿ Using a 27 watt LED headlight and able to get 300 feet each setup with DiNi 10 digital level.?ÿ Have some water running and near the middle lots of water coming in mostly from the top via grout ports.?ÿ Contractor will need to divert to the side as its in the line of sight.?ÿ Last day we were in there went all the way through, didn't get much done because we hit the water falls. Pushed out to the outlet end just to see what we are going to encounter.
Anyway it's not every day you go through 7100 feet of 54 inch pipe on a couple of special carts I built just for this survey.?ÿ Flintstone carts, pushed by foot power.?ÿ I think we can go about 1/2 mile per hour when just traveling.?ÿ Tunnel goes through the mountain at 9000 feet elevation. Diverts snow melt water from the Colorado basin to the Great basin.?ÿ Its the Ephraim tunnel.
Cool!
How bout some pics of Fred & Barney doing the job?
Sounds pretty cool...
How much $ are they paying you?
So the tunnel is in danger of collapsing, cart goes in the tunnel, you sit on the cart...????..reminds me of Robert Shaw; you go in the cage, cage goes in the water, you go in the water, sharks in the water, our shark,,,,,,,,
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photos please.
Planning on a whole presentation for UCLS conference. Drone video, pictures, video inside the hole. No time right now but I'll get there.
Charlie Bronson.
Hope you are having some fun with this project Leon.?ÿ This kind of project isn't for everyone.?ÿ Not hard to imagine that some of our peers here would have "issues" working in that kind of confined space.?ÿ Being 3500 ft. inside a tunnel with no more than 4-1/2 ft. of vertical clearance makes some claustrophobic!
BTW....this is the first time I've heard the phrase "culinary pipe" used.?ÿ The next time I'm in Ephraim City, I'll make sure to ask for a tall glass of cold culinary water.
I wonder if you could have a whole bunch of stick on targets and pull a scanner through at intervals?
We used those sticky targets inside the nuclear plants and they worked well.?ÿ
Finished the tunnel (pipe) as built on Wednesday.?ÿ Rolled in the outlet at 9:30 am did 1600 feet in the middle and rolled out the inlet at 8:pm.?ÿ All together 14 hours including drive time.?ÿ Glad to be out of there.?ÿ Total field time including travel was 84 hours.
It was 52 degrees in there, probably 100% humidity and a challenge to stay dry.?ÿ Some water was always running under us. Working on reducing the notes and a report.
I have pictures, video, and drone flight of the ends.?ÿ No time yet to get it all downloaded to the PC.
The Flintstone carts I made to roll thru on now belong to the contractor.?ÿ They will use them to install a 10 inch HDPE inside the 54 inch pipe (hanging off the top) that is part of Ephraim City's culinary water supply.
My wife has given me strict instructions to never take another project like this (start acting my age).?ÿ I don't really mind her that much, but I really need to leave this kind of work to younger surveyors.
I pray your wife doesn't look over your shoulder to see what you are doing, Leon.?ÿ
I look forward to seeing photos of the project, esp. the Flintstones cart.
Is the tunnel infiltrated by just snow melt or does it also collect runoff from roads, developments, etc? If so do you wear a respirator? Storm runoff can be just as big a biohazard as a live sanitary line. Be careful.?ÿ ?????ÿ
@flga-pls-2-2
The tunnel is at about 9000 feet elevation.?ÿ Top of mountain about 10000.?ÿ The east side of the mountain is in the Colorado River drainage.?ÿ The west side drains into the Great Basin.?ÿ Via a series of canals the water from snow melt is collected in the canals and routed to the entrance of the tunnel which goes through the mountain and outlets in a small canyon which connects to a larger canyon.?ÿ The water is used in the valley for irrigation water mostly for farms.?ÿ The water from snow melt has just ended at this time, it was a good water year this year.?ÿ not much water running through at this time. Last year was very poor.
They also collect water from springs which is put into a 10 inch diameter pipe.?ÿ There is an existing pipe through the original tunnel which was grouted in on the outside of the new pipe.?ÿ This pipe can no longer be maintained so they are going to install a new pipe hanging off the top of the new 54 inch pipe.?ÿ After the pipe exits the tunnel is goes underground for about 10 miles to the city of Ephraim, part of the towns drinking water supply.?ÿ Water is a precious resource in these parts.?ÿ They wined about turning the water turned out of the tunnel while we we in there.?ÿ They asked if I would do it with the water running through.?ÿ HECK NO!!
They wanted to get the survey done before the snow melt ended because they plan to float the new 10 inch pipe into the tunnel and need a water flow to do that.?ÿ We tried to get it done fast but they didn't do some things we needed.?ÿ I think they are going to open the 10 inch pipe (about 600 gallons per minute) to boost the tunnel flow to get the pipe floated in.?ÿ They say 7000 feet of pipe is a lot to winch in. Hoping it will float itself in if there is a enough water flowing.?ÿ The guys that jack and bolt this new pipe in there, which will really restrict the work space, I fell sorry for.?ÿ At one time they asked me if I'd do the survey after the 10 inch pipe was installed.?ÿ HECK NO!!! NO WAY PERIOD!!?ÿ Not going in there after that.
The contractor flouted though a couple times on a small kayak before the flow diminished to far.
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Very little development on the top of the mountain.?ÿ The drainage into the tunnel is on the Manti-Lasal National Forest.?ÿ Pristine water from snow melt.?ÿ Had no bad air problems except it was cold and wet int there.
Thank you for explaining. That must have been fun(?!) Neve have performed really any survey outside the "norm". The only tunnels I know of in Fl are the ones leading to the infield at Daytona International Speedway. ?????ÿ
"My wife has given me strict instructions to never take another project like this (start acting my age). I don't really mind her that much, but I really need to leave this kind of work to younger surveyors."
If you hand it off to the younger guys, you don't get the bragging rights and fun of doing the most interesting stuff.(Even if it's difficult.) Not to mention the gratification value when you're done. I don't think many wives would care about that, but I do. Nice project to hear about, especially if you're doing boring, less challenging work. Thanks for sharing.
Hats off to you Leon, I did lots of caving when I was younger, now there is no way you could drag, push, pull me in one. Good Job!!!!
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Here is the instrument setup.?ÿ I'm sitting in a boat chair on the cart.
You can see my tech on his cart barely down the tunnel.
Was the pipe smooth (paved invert) for the flow area, and thus your cart, or did you have 7,000+ feet of corrugations to deal with?
After seeing that photo, I do not think I could have done that survey. Kudos to you!
Ken
