Achievement

Report

January 2014

Report Title
New Dunk Tanks Built at Cap Ternay Utilizing Rainwater Collection

Summary
Staff members on the Seychelles Marine Expedition at Cap Ternay designed and built a rainwater
collection system to provide water for new dunk tanks used for rinsing scuba gear after dives.

Report
In early January, the GVI Seychelles Marine Expedition built new dunk tanks that utilize rainwater
collected from the roof of the main office building on base at Cap Ternay. Cap Ternay had been using
50 gallon barrels half filled with water from a hose to serve as dunk tanks to rinse all of the scuba
equipment after each dive. With the previous system, we were using approximately 75 gallons / 100
litres of water a day, which adds up over time. Seychelles periodically has water shortages during
the dry seasons. As we are a conservation expedition on an island with limited natural resources, we
wanted to make changes that could reduce the amount of water we were using.

Previous Dunk Tanks

Staff members Lee Cassidy, science coordinator, and Lee Bush, dive officer, built a similar dunk tank
and rain water collection system on the other Seychelles base on the island of Curieuse in 2012,
which was quite effective.

The Cap Ternay dunk tanks required multiple stages of repairs and construction. First, Lee and Lee
had to design their system using the guttering already in place on the roof above the office.
They then built 3 dunk tanks out of cement blocks, designing it so water would flow into the deepest
dunk tank and fill up all three. They also built a foundation to hold the water collection tank, an old
tank that had been sitting on base unused. With the foundation and dunk tanks complete, they
repaired the gutters and added downpipes to bring the water from the roof directly into the storage
tank.
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From the storage tank, the water goes directly into the dunk tank with the pull of a lever. It is just as
simple to empty the tanks by pulling the plug on the deepest tank and the water flows out from all
three into the drain.

Not only will this help conserve water, but also will conserve time. Volunteers will enjoy this new
system, as it will cut down on the amount of time they have to spend cleaning and filling the dunk
tanks each morning before the dives as part of their daily duties. With the full system now in place,
we just have to wait for a good rainfall to test it out!

Lee Bush building the new dunk tanks

New dunk tanks for wetsuits, BCDs and

regulators

Pipes from roof into the water storage tank

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