A specialized ROV for cleaning groundwater recharge basins

In 1998, Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institution´s (HBOI) Engineering Division completed the design and development of a precision dredge vehicle for Orange County Water District in Anaheim, California. The prototype vehicle-referred to as the basin cleaning vehicle (BCV)-is designed to remove the silt-clogging layer from the District´s natural, sand-bottom, groundwater recharge lakes. The vehicle functions like a swimming pool cleaner to continuously clean lakebeds, eliminating the present practice of annually pumping out these large lakes to clean then with bulldozers and earthscrapers. By minimizing the clogging layer in its largest lakes and sustaining year-round service, the District hopes to increase the recharge (percolation) rate by 30 percent. The BCV is an all-electric, bottom-crawling, remotely operated vehicle approximately 20 feet long×8 ½ feet wide×6 feet in height. Two Archimedean screws provide its forward, backward and lateral propulsion. Water jets fluidize and agitate the top layer of sediment and the slurry is drawn into a turbidity-controlled hood where silt-sand separation is accomplished hydraulically