AWWA C652 Potable Water Services.
Ven-Tech's AWWA C652 Potable Water Services include reservoir inspection, cleaning, disinfection support and decision-ready reporting using commercial divers, ROVs and robotic systems.
Potable water work built around control.
AWWA C652 Potable Water Services require more than a clean piece of equipment and a camera. The work must connect facility preparation, contamination prevention, disinfectant handling, inspection coverage, sampling responsibilities, system operation and project records into one controlled plan.
Ven-Tech Subsea has more than 12 years of commercial diving and underwater inspection experience supporting municipal utilities, First Nations, public agencies, industrial operators, engineers and contractors across Canada. Our teams inspect, clean and support maintenance inside potable water reservoirs, clearwells, elevated tanks and related storage infrastructure using potable-grade commercial divers, remotely operated vehicles and robotic cleaning systems.
Where the asset, water-quality objectives and owner requirements permit, work may be completed while the reservoir remains full or isolated without being drained. This can reduce treated-water loss, service interruption and the time a critical storage asset remains unavailable. Every recommendation is based on the facility, not on a one-method sales promise.
What AWWA C652-25 means for your project.
For AWWA C652 Potable Water Services, the 2025 edition strengthens planning and documentation around disinfection and dechlorination while preserving a practical route for minimally intrusive ROV or diver inspections when rigorous sanitary procedures are followed.
Disinfection planning
The scope should identify equipment, chemicals, monitoring, reporting, facility preparation and responsibility boundaries before work starts. C652-25 expressly adds preparation of a disinfection plan and, when warranted, a dechlorination plan.
Underwater inspection and cleaning
The standard includes disinfection procedures relevant to underwater inspection or cleaning of potable-water storage facilities. It recognizes that a tank may remain in service or be isolated for minimally intrusive diver or ROV work when the sanitary and operational plan supports that approach.
Sampling and water-quality coordination
Project planning may address coliform sampling, chlorine residual and aesthetic water-quality considerations. The owner, operating authority and qualified laboratory remain central to defining sampling locations, timing, acceptance criteria and return-to-service decisions.
Disinfectant and chemical controls
The current edition adds chemical-handling precautions and clarifies terminology for free chlorine, total chlorine residual, contact time and highly chlorinated water. Ven-Tech's field plan identifies the products, concentrations, handling method and records applicable to the agreed work.
Dechlorination and discharge awareness
Where chlorinated water must be discharged, the project team evaluates containment, dechlorination and environmental requirements. The final arrangement is coordinated with the owner and applicable discharge requirements rather than assumed from a generic template.
Technical inspection defined separately
C652-25 protects sanitary integrity but does not prescribe the detailed technical inspection route. Ven-Tech defines accessible components, media quality, measurements, limitations and reporting requirements so the resulting evidence supports maintenance and engineering decisions.
Select the method around the reservoir.
AWWA C652 Potable Water Services can be delivered by commercial divers, ROVs, robotic systems or a combined approach. Access dimensions, tank geometry, water use, visibility, sediment depth, required dexterity, inspection resolution and operating constraints determine the best field method. Use the selector below to compare the three approaches Ven-Tech can provide.
Direct inspection and hands-on capability.
Commercial divers provide close observation, controlled cleaning and the dexterity required for physical checks, targeted maintenance and difficult internal geometry.
- Direct inspection of accessible roofs, walls, floors and internal components
- Controlled sediment vacuuming and localized cleaning
- Hands-on checks, measurements and minor intervention
- Live communications and topside video monitoring
Surface-supplied diving configuration, team size and entry controls are selected to meet the applicable jurisdiction and project risk profile.
AWWA C652 Potable Water Services.
Each AWWA C652 Potable Water Services scope can be configured from initial condition assessment through post-cleaning evidence for a single tank, a multi-reservoir program or an ongoing asset-management requirement.
Reservoir condition inspection
Systematic visual review of accessible roofs, walls, floors, columns, braces, baffles, ladders, joints, coatings, penetrations, inlets, outlets, overflows and previous repair locations.
Sediment removal and cleaning
Diver-led or robotic vacuum cleaning configured around floor geometry, fixed internals, suction components, deposit distribution and the owner's operational priorities.
Equipment preparation
Potable-only or properly segregated equipment, documented cleaning and disinfection, controlled handling, protected staging and traceable pre-entry checks.
Measurements and NDT support
Project-specific sediment depth, dimensions, ultrasonic thickness readings, coating observations and other accessible measurements where the tank material and engineering question require them.
Targeted maintenance support
Hands-on checks, debris removal, minor component work, cleaning around outlets and support for scoped interventions where permitted by the work plan.
Water-quality coordination
Project-specific chlorine residual, turbidity and sampling coordination with the owner, operator or qualified laboratory, including agreed hold points and records.
Cleaning verification
Post-cleaning imagery, coverage tracking, outstanding limitations and documented priority areas so stakeholders can see what was completed and what requires further action.
Decision-ready reporting
Indexed media, component observations, findings, limitations and prioritized recommendations organized for utility, engineering, maintenance and compliance review.
Multi-tank programs
Standardized inspection routes, repeatable deliverables and coordinated mobilization for utilities managing multiple reservoirs, clearwells or elevated water-storage assets.
Protect the reservoir before the hatch opens.
For AWWA C652 Potable Water Services, the exact disinfection plan is project-specific. Ven-Tech's standard workflow connects scope review, equipment history, preparation, disinfectant control, staging, field checks and post-work records before mobilization is treated as complete.
Confirm facility and operating status
Review construction, volume, access, water use, isolation capability, circulation, previous reports, known water-quality concerns and required outcome.
Define clean-equipment boundaries
Identify potable-only or properly segregated equipment and prevent uncontrolled contact during transport, setup, access and recovery.
Prepare and disinfect
Clean equipment and apply the documented disinfection procedure. Ven-Tech commonly uses a 200 ppm chlorine solution for potable-water ROV, tether and diving equipment when appropriate to the approved plan.
Control staging and entry
Establish protected clean and dirty zones, hatch controls, personnel responsibilities, entry sequence and contamination-prevention requirements.
Coordinate water-quality checks
Record agreed chlorine residual and turbidity observations and coordinate any bacteriological sampling, laboratory analysis and acceptance decisions with the owner.
Close out the sanitary record
Document equipment preparation, concentrations, times, observations, deviations, media and project-specific sampling or monitoring records.
Keep the water available. Control the work.
AWWA C652 Potable Water Services may be completed in service or isolated-full where conditions allow. This can preserve storage capacity and reduce avoidable draining, but only when the facility, sanitary controls, water-quality plan, access and proposed work support that decision. Ven-Tech helps owners compare the operational tradeoffs before selecting an approach.
Deliverables beyond raw video.
AWWA C652 Potable Water Services should produce evidence that can be traced to a component, location or maintenance decision. The final package is configured to the contract and can include the following records.
Deliverables are agreed before fieldwork. Engineering opinions, laboratory analysis and regulatory acceptance are provided by the appropriately qualified party where those services fall outside Ven-Tech's contracted scope.
AWWA C652 Potable Water Services workflow.
Understand the asset
Confirm dimensions, construction, access, water use, operating status, known concerns and the decision the work must support.
Select the method
Choose diver, ROV, crawler, vacuum system, NDT tooling and recovery arrangements around the actual reservoir.
Set the controls
Develop sanitary, HSE, isolation, emergency, sampling, discharge and communication requirements with the owner.
Disinfect and verify
Complete equipment cleaning and disinfection, establish controlled staging and document pre-entry checks.
Inspect and service
Follow the agreed route, check media quality and coverage in real time, and address the authorized cleaning or maintenance scope.
Organize the evidence
Quality-check records, connect findings to components and issue a clear package for operations, maintenance and engineering review.
Experience across critical water infrastructure.
Ven-Tech brings more than 12 years of field experience to AWWA C652 Potable Water Services. Our work includes potable-water reservoirs, elevated tanks, clearwells, raw-water infrastructure, fire-water tanks, industrial storage and the underwater systems connected to them. The following examples show the range of assets and stakeholders our teams have supported.
100-foot reservoir work with documented site-audit performance.
Potable-water reservoir work completed under sanitary commercial-diving controls with zero reported WorkSafeBC violations or deficiencies and zero reported orders in the documented site inspection.
50-foot reservoir inspection and cleaning support.
Reservoir work completed with documented alignment to applicable commercial-diving and potable-water procedures, with zero reported violations or deficiencies and zero reported orders in the recorded site inspection.
Three riveted-steel potable-water tanks.
Inspection planning for the Wick, Administration and Highpoint water-storage tanks at Pacific Rim National Park Reserve, covering different dimensions, capacities and internal configurations.
Watershed Park reservoir cleaning.
Potable-water reservoir cleaning scope supported by formal contracting, insurance, notice-of-project and worker-compensation deliverables for a municipal owner.
Organizations are shown as examples of Ven-Tech's broader project experience. Individual project scope, contracting chain and services provided vary. Project details can be supplied where permitted by client confidentiality requirements.
Reservoir inspection and cleaning in the field.
Watch Ven-Tech's reservoir team complete inspection and cleaning work inside critical water-storage infrastructure. The player loads only after selection to keep this page fast.
ATHENA™ connects the record.
Ven-Tech's operational intelligence framework connects project intake, sanitary planning, HSE controls, field execution, inspection evidence, water-quality observations and closeout documentation. The objective is practical traceability from the first project decision through the final report.
Qualified, insured and project-ready.
AWWA C652 Potable Water Services intersect public health, commercial diving, confined-space interfaces, fall protection, chemical handling and facility operations. Ven-Tech supports procurement and project review with documented contractor-management, safety and insurance credentials.
Occupational health and safety management system supported by external certification and documented field processes.
Commercial-diving work planned around applicable CSA Z275 practices and WorkSafeBC Part 24 requirements in British Columbia.
Commercial diving personnel selected around the work method, jurisdiction, depth, environment and project requirements.
ISNetworld, Avetta, Cognibox and Alcumus contractor-management participation supports client prequalification.
ROV, robotic cleaning, sonar, magnetic crawler, ultrasonic thickness and project-specific inspection options.
$5 million commercial general liability and $2 million professional liability, with project-specific coverage available for review.
Questions before the hatch opens.
What are AWWA C652 Potable Water Services?
AWWA C652 Potable Water Services connect the sanitary requirements for water-storage facility disinfection with project-specific inspection, cleaning and documentation. Ven-Tech provides potable-grade diver, ROV and robotic services, equipment preparation, sediment removal, inspection media and reporting under a plan developed for the reservoir and owner requirements.
What changed in AWWA C652-25?
The 2025 edition adds a requirement for a disinfection plan and, when warranted, a dechlorination plan. It also adds chemical-handling precautions, clarifies chlorine terminology, provides additional disinfection-method guidance and updates the response to initial positive coliform results. The complete purchased standard should be reviewed for contractual use.
Does AWWA C652-25 define how a reservoir must be inspected?
No. AWWA states that C652 includes disinfection procedures relevant to underwater inspection and cleaning but does not describe the technical aspects of that inspection or cleaning. Ven-Tech separately defines the method, route, component coverage, media, measurements, reporting and limitations required by the project.
Can a potable water reservoir remain full during inspection or cleaning?
Potentially. C652-25 recognizes that a tank may remain in service or be isolated for minimally intrusive ROV or diver inspections. Suitability depends on the facility, water-quality objectives, owner procedures, access, proposed work, sanitary controls and governing authority requirements. The owner retains control of system operation and return-to-service decisions.
Should we use a commercial diver or an ROV?
An ROV is effective when remote visual inspection or robotic cleaning can achieve the required outcome. A commercial diver is appropriate when close physical access, touch, dexterity, direct cleaning or minor intervention is required. A combined method can use robotic reconnaissance first and targeted diver work second.
How does Ven-Tech disinfect equipment for potable-water work?
Ven-Tech uses potable-only or properly segregated equipment and a documented cleaning and disinfection procedure. A 200 ppm chlorine solution is commonly used for ROV, tether and diving equipment when appropriate to the approved project plan. Concentration, contact method, staging and records are confirmed for each scope.
What parts of the reservoir can be inspected?
The agreed route can cover accessible roofs, walls, floors, columns, braces, baffles, ladders, joints, seams, coatings, penetrations, inlets, outlets, overflows, screens and previous repair locations. Access, visibility, tank geometry, water movement and obstructions are documented as limitations where they affect coverage.
What information is needed for an accurate proposal?
Please provide the reservoir location, construction material, dimensions or capacity, hatch and access details, current operating status, available drawings, previous reports, estimated sediment, known concerns, desired schedule, required deliverables and any owner-specific disinfection or sampling requirements. Send the project information to Ven-Tech for a method review.
Plan an AWWA C652 potable water project.
Send the tank dimensions, access details, operating requirements, known concerns and required outcome for your AWWA C652 Potable Water Services project. Ven-Tech will help determine the appropriate diver, ROV, robotic or combined approach.