Missing Diver at Lake Pleasant

[Gdaaym8z]

The visibility at Lake Pleasant is never all that great. Right now they are filling the lake and that keeps things pretty stirred up. There was a pretty thick algae bloom this year AND there is a lot of silt as well.

Usually beyond 100' on the dam there is no ambient light.

I would guess that they are fighting against all of the above.

 

[IDS_Bill]

My condolences to the Borger family and friends.


Could someone address the dark water? Is that algae or silt or what?

Conditions as of last night at 6:30PM at 220ffw at the base of the dam were 5ft viz, 52 degrees. Visibility at the bottom is terrible, especially with backscatter from the video lights. The low viz at the bottom has a lot to do with suspended particles that just hang there. The bottom at that depth is like jello and the second you disturb it it chunks up and kills what viz you have.

I think the info above is incorrect. From what I saw, there have been no divers in the water yet. It is search by ROV and sonar.

 

[Gdaaym8z]

I think the info above is incorrect. From what I saw, there have been no divers in the water yet. It is search by ROV and sonar.

Maybe the news went back for another interview with the fisherman?

 

[Jax]

Missing Lake Pleasant scuba diver ID'd; search continues

by Clare Hahne - Oct. 18, 2010 11:45 AM
The Arizona Republic

Maricopa County Sheriff's Office on Monday continued the search for a Phoenix man who went missing two days ago while scuba diving near a dangerous area of Lake Pleasant, near the dam.

Timothy Borger, 48, did not resurface when he and a small group dove into the water around noon Saturday.


The group was diving in an area of deep water that contains debris such as steel and concrete from the dam, Deputy Jeff Sprong said.

Rescuers continued the search around 7 a.m. Monday.

Rescue teams are relying on a robot with a camera to locate Borger, Sprong said. The robot gives off a bright light that allows rescue teams to safely see through the water without going in the lake.

Embellishment mine. Where do they get this? People dive there a lot -- the are some issues, but still . . .

I love that last line - there's so much backscatter reflection, the light is near worthless, as explained above by IDS Bill.

This has to be just awful for the divers that dove with him.

 

[ScubaSteve2000]

Don't get me started on the knuckleheads in the media. Sensationalists all! They can't even get the location of the accident right. Where's the fun of reporting that the old dam is a popular dive site. Has been for years. Without incident.

They would have the public believe that the divers were jumping into piles of rubble and rebar. It diminishes the tragedy of the accident and casts a pall on the diver. On all the divers there.

Never let it be said they ever let the lack of knowlege get in the way of reporting..."with a gleam in their eye."

 

[N2DeepInAz]

Don't get me started on the knuckleheads in the media. Sensationalists all! They can't even get the location of the accident right. Where's the fun of reporting that the old dam is a popular dive site. Has been for years. Without incident.

They would have the public believe that the divers were jumping into piles of rubble and rebar. It diminishes the tragedy of the accident and casts a pall on the diver. On all the divers there.

Never let it be said they ever let the lack of knowlege get in the way of reporting..."with a gleam in their eye."

Thank you, Steve for noting that the media is a bunch of morons. Please see the attached picture which is an aerial photo of the Old Waddell Dam which is now submerged that the divers were diving, not the newer Waddell Dam pictured in the newscasts.

This structure is massive and the area that was breached (removed) is to the left of the crane shown in the picture. Four buttresses were removed to create a 224ft wide gap for water to flow through after the new dam was completed.

So picture this covered in water and with a large gap removed, with the top around 60ft below the waters surface as of now. This is a reference for those who are not familiar with the area.

 

[IDS_Bill]

Thank you, Steve for noting that the media is a bunch of morons. Please see the attached picture which is an aerial photo of the Old Waddell Dam which is now submerged that the divers were diving, not the newer Waddell Dam pictured in the newscasts.

This structure is massive and the area that was breached (removed) is to the left of the crane shown in the picture. Four buttresses were removed to create a 224ft wide gap for water to flow through after the new dam was completed.

So picture this covered in water and with a large gap removed, with the top around 60ft below the waters surface as of now. This is a reference for those who are not familiar with the area.

Well said man!

Now that it is collapsed you have concrete, rebar, the collapsed road that ran along the top, the truss under the road, pipes, beams and big a$$ trees. Throw in the bottom of jello that silts, almost no visibility, dark as night, cold - OH and it's 220 fricken feet underwater - and you have a pretty inhospitable dive environment! Not to mention a 20 minute bottom time will get you 45 minutes of decompression...

I'll take the 340 foot dive in Cozumel any day over 200 ft in the lake!

 

[Jax]

Well said man!

Now that it is collapsed you have concrete, rebar, the collapsed road that ran along the top, the truss under the road, pipes, beams and big a$$ trees. Throw in the bottom of jello that silts, almost no visibility, dark as night, cold - OH and it's 220 fricken feet underwater - and you have a pretty inhospitable dive environment! Not to mention a 20 minute bottom time will get you 45 minutes of decompression...

I'll take the 340 foot dive in Cozumel any day over 200 ft in the lake!

Does anyone know - did they dive to the top of the old Waddell Dam (60fsw) or do they dive below that?

Frankly, I don't get the appeal of diving into the lower depths --

 

[N2DeepInAz]

Jax,

Typically most of my dives are done on top of the dam which is about 3 ft wide. Although the allure of the dam and the dive itself is the architecture of the entire structure. As I mentioned before, this thing is massive and to be up close to it is rather cool, at least to me.

You can go to the south side of it and into the larger bell housings that slope towards the bottom of the lake or you can go to the north side and check out the bell housing shapes from the outside. On the north side at this time of the year when the water levels are down, you can find the bottom around 120ft or so. So exploring the nooks and crannies at the base it pretty cool.

If you head towards the western end you will eventually run into the wall where the dam meets the earth. From there if you go south the dive becomes a wall dive, which is kindof cool to checkout, but you'll have to turn around at some point. That wall drops down into the riverbed, a hundred feet or more below, so it's even more critical that you watch your depth.

If you head east it's just more bell housings and nooks and crannies to look into. Eventually, depending on where you anchored on the dam you'll encounter the 224ft breach that was made in order to flood the riverbed after the new dam was completed. If you cross the breach to the other side the bell housings and buttresses become smaller as the land rises to the east. In my opinion the east side is very shallow, boring and not much to look at as the west side of the breach.

So it's a very large and cool structure to checkout in my opinion. Those are some of the features that I enjoy looking at when diving on the old dam.

Hope this helps paint a better picture of the site for you.

N2DeepinAz

 

[IDS_Bill]

Frankly, I don't get the appeal of diving into the lower depths --

This may be a subject for a different thread but for a recreational diver, there's not a lot to accomplish. As a technical diver, you have to keep your skills, muscle memory and procedures fresh so it is a very beneficial training environment.