The divers who keep the water flowing on California’s farms
Clearing washing machines, toilets, swords, and lots of fishing gear from irrigation canals is dangerous, and crucial, work
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Here’s the scene: I’m at the edge of California’s Sacramento River, across from the town of Princeton. There’s a trailer full of equipment, and a cacophony of generators and pumps. This is clearly a worksite, but the real work is happening out of view. The only clues are some bubbles on the water’s surface, and something that sounds like walkie talkies.
The team of four from Big Valley Divers is doing seasonal work at a pump station that’s about to supply irrigation canals across the Sacramento Valley with water.
Big Valley Divers, for example, work on drinking tanks for potable water. They work in marinas, installing structures and repairing moorings. They work on salvage, recovering boats and cars and semis, whatever ends up in a waterway. They work in hydroelectricity, on dams. Most of their work, though, is in irrigation.
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