Posted on September 22, 2022 by Brent Phillips

If technology has taught society anything, it moves at lightspeed. Hence, no matter what industry you work in, advancements will continuously improve a system’s efficiency.

For NACE inspectors and city water managers, that technological advancement is underwater remotely operated vehicles (ROVs). Today we’ll discuss how underwater ROVs catapulted the water storage inspection industry forward and how your water municipality benefits from having an ROV inspection completed by a NACE inspector.

Inspecting Water Storage Tanks

In the past, water tower inspections were both time-consuming and costly. Now with aquatic ROVs, downtime is no longer a factor because tanks no longer need to be drained to inspect the interior. 

With the capabilities of ROVs, city water managers gain insight into what is happening inside their municipality’s water tanks in real-time through the compact design that makes ROVs highly portable.

Furthermore, water tanks can remain in service while an ROV inspects the interior of a tank and can operate regardless of the amount of water inside. That means no water waste since tanks don’t need to be emptied to be inspected. 

Ultimately making ROV inspections an economically affordable alternative to traditional internal tank inspection methods. Moreover, the affordability and time saved by using an ROV make inspecting multiple tanks in a single day a reality for many city water managers.

Cunningham’s Underwater ROV

At Cunningham, we use a new, state-of-the-art ROV for its compact design of roughly 24″ ✕ 12″ ✕ 8″ to conduct an internal inspection of your municipality’s water tower facility. That gives the ROV greater mobility inside the tank to maneuver through narrow spaces. In addition, this device returns 360° views, thanks to the ROVs’ variable tether lengths that give it greater mobility in various tank designs. 

With the unprecedented capabilities of the device, city water managers will now have access to a host of inspection advantages that are only made available through the use of a submerged ROV with:

• Real-time high-definition broadcast sharing with 12 megapixels of image clarity.
• Video recordings are saved to an SD memory card with ultra-high definition, delivering four times the video resolution.
• Top-to-bottom tank inspections are enhanced by LED flood lighting to illuminate every detail.

Improving Water Asset Management

A comprehensive tank evaluation by Cunningham’s NACE Inspectors will help preserve your municipality’s water asset management. When you choose Cunningham, you’ll receive a tank evaluation that includes: 

• A full detailed report on the overall condition of the water tower
• Photo documentation on the state of your community’s water storage facility.
• Full-length uncut video on the tower’s interior using our state-of-the-art freshwater ROV.

Contact Cunningham today to schedule your next water tank inspection at (620) 848-3030, and you’ll receive:

• ROV Inspections as low as $1,400
• Multi-tank ROV Inspection discounts as low as $1,200