BEACHCOMBER
SCOTTISH SUPERDADS
Don’t let me hear you moaning that your dive was on the nippy side. Commercial divers were praised for exceeding the call of duty in early March, when the Western Isles were in the grip of their coldest spell in 25 years.
Intakes from the lochs were freezing up and threatening folks’ water supply, so Scottish Water called in the divers.
Two teams ended up keeping constant watch in Loch Fada for more than 48 hours.
Mark MacInnes from the operator NDUS, one of the first divers in, said that water temperature was down between -3 and -4°C, which I didn’t think was possible, and vis was about 10cm.
They initially worked through the night, clearing intakes with their hands.
“There are filter screens with fine holes to stop debris being drawn into the pumps,” Mark reported. “As soon as slush from the loch was coming into contact with the screen, the holes were icing over… one side of the screens was freezing over as fast as you could clear the other.”