Gates, outlets, trash racks and intakes that can't be reached from the surface. Differential pressure checked before every dive.
Dam and water control structures hold their most consequential components below the waterline, gates that control flow, outlets that release it, and trash racks that protect it. Those components are rarely accessible from the surface, and their condition directly affects safe operation. Zion Marine provides the underwater access to inspect, document and repair them where surface access is limited or impossible.
The operational conditions that lead an owner to call.
Sluice and crest gate seals deteriorate underwater, causing leakage and flow control problems. We inspect, document and replace seals and gate components.
Silt and debris obstruct gate seating and reduce intake capacity over time. We clear accumulated material and restore flow.
Many dam structures have no recent underwater inspection record. We provide the condition assessment owners and regulators require.
Diving around water control gates requires precise lockout/tagout and differential pressure safety management. We plan and execute to those constraints.
Submerged concrete in spillways and outlets degrades out of sight. We document the condition and perform targeted repair.
Low-level outlets, conduits and gate structures are confined and difficult to reach. We use penetration and difficult-access diving to get there.
Inspection, seal replacement and repair of sluice, crest and control gates.
View CapabilityHeavy structural repair, concrete rehabilitation and rigging.
View Capability
Owner: City of Atlanta · Levee: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · GC: Astra Group · Atlanta, Georgia · 2025–2026
Two scopes at the City of Atlanta's R.M. Clayton water plant. At the levee outlets, underwater installation of four custom backflow prevention devices: a 9 ft hinged valve, a 48 in duckbill check valve, a fabricated sliding gate and an 8 x 7 ft hinged valve, with fabrication support, rigging and diver installation. At the plant, chlorine contact chamber modifications.
WaterOwner: City of Tuscaloosa · GC: Haren Construction · Tuscaloosa, Alabama · 2024
Removed the existing timber intake and rock ballast and installed a new intake with diver-placed steel formwork, rebar and concrete. Replaced the screen guide rails and the air-valve intake. Surface-supplied air was run from a barge at 110 ft depth with surface oxygen decompression, an on-site chamber, a chamber operator and a dive medical technician on standby.
WastewaterOwner: JEA · GC: Wharton-Smith · Jacksonville, Florida · 2022–2024
Contaminated-water diving inside an operating wastewater facility with sealed suits, positive-pressure helmets and surface decontamination. Valve replacement, hydraulic saw cutting of concrete, blind flanges for isolation and sliding gate installation, all performed with the plant in service.
DamsOwner: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers · Georgia
Nose cone replacement at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Carters Lake pump storage facility in Georgia.
Discuss your gate, intake or structural condition with our commercial diving team. We'll help determine the right next step.