Why Phoenix Has 66 Marine Contractors
By Ray Whitfield, ADCI-certified commercial dive supervisor. Reviewed by Dana Whitcombe, technical reviewer.
Commercial Diving Contractors Alabama | Commercial Diving Contractors Alaska Last winter I spent eight hours on a trash rack at Waddell Dam, pulling off carp and shopping carts with a grapple. Water temp was 48°F, visibility about four inches. My knees were bruised from kneeling on calcium deposits. That's what most people don't picture when they think of 'marine' anything. So when someone tells you Phoenix has 66 marine contractors, you think boat lifts and wakeboard boats. Wrong. These are commercial divers, underwater welders, ROV pilots, and salvage crews. And the reason there's that many working in the middle of the Sonoran Desert is the water system underneath it. Phoenix is an oasis by force of machinery. The Salt River Project runs over 800 miles of canals. The Central Arizona Project pushes Colorado River water 336 miles through aqueducts, pipelines, and siphons. Then you've got Lake Roosevelt, Canyon Lake, Saguaro Lake, and Bartlett Lake — all holding water back or running it through hydroelectric plants. All of that infrastructure is underwater at least part of the time, and it all breaks. That's where we come in.
The Hidden Water System
I've dived in hundred-year-old tunnels under downtown Phoenix that were never intended for anything but letting the Salt River flow to somebody's farm. The concrete's got rusted rebar sticking out like thorns. You learn to move slow. In clear water you can see clouds of sediment. In the murk, you're going by touch and the tingle of your umbilical. The scale is something else. The CAP's New River and Aqua Fria siphons sit in a floodplain. Each is a concrete box that can move about 2,000 cubic feet per second. When the gates get jammed, someone has to go down with cutting torches. I've been that someone. SRP's crosscut canal, which runs right through downtown, has been in service since 1899. We've had to repair steel gates installed around 60 years ago that were losing six-inch streams. Call it 66 contractors. I've never seen a perfect headcount, but here's what I know: there's enough work for every one. They're feeding a system that absolutely has to keep moving water.
Inland Diving Is Not Salt-Water Diving
Offshore divers work in the ocean with waves, current, and marine life. Inland diving is about zero visibility and sharp edges. I was at the Val Vista Water Treatment Plant once, installing an underwater weir gate. The water was full of silt, and you couldn't see your own glove. You're feeling your way along an I-beam with calloused hands, making sure your vitals are straight. Some guys can't handle that. They go back to bartending. This reminds me of a job at Canyon Lake where a guy put a harness on wrong, and his life jacket flare poked me in the eye. We spent six hours waiting for a part because we forgot a swivel. Lesson: the little brass fittings decide everything. We run Kirby Morgan 250 helmets with surface-supplied air. That's not scuba. That's a telephone line and an air hose. If you go down in a drysuit in 65°F chlorinated water, you're living off the umbilical. And for construction, we're using underwater hydraulic chainsaws and drilling rigs. Not a wetsuit-and-speargun thing.
Why Phoenix? Because the West Runs on Moved Water
Phoenix keeps growing. We're mining water from an over-allocated river system and a shrinking reservoir in the middle of a drought. That means the infrastructure gets older and more stressed. Concrete cracks. Gates seize. The dams are massive on purpose. Roosevelt Dam is 357 feet high. When you drop a six-inch gate into a 12-foot-wide tunnel, you need a diver to guide it and confirm sealing. In the winter, you might get a short weather window, but the work is steady. Also, climate change and drought mean we're moving water more aggressively. The CAP has seen its capacity challenged by invasive zebra mussels in its downstream reaches. Cleaning those intake structures, valve chambers, and small-bore pipelines is endless. Every time a mussel colony gets thick, you have to send divers with scrapers and vacuums. That's scheduled work, not just emergencies. The mussels also clog cooling lines at generating stations, so operators schedule two to four cleaning events per year. That's why the local contractors are here. It's not a seasonal trade. It's a utility-based necessity. A lot of the work is also tied to growth. Every new housing development or industrial plant needs water lines tied into the system, and someone has to dive on the taps.
The ADCI Card and the Future
You can't just climb in a dry suit and call yourself a marine contractor. The guys I work with carry an ADCI certification — the Association of Diving Contractors International. It's the standard for commercial diving. Phoenix has some of the most qualified divers I've seen because they have to do everything. One day you're welding a patch on a hydroelectric gate. The next you're doing video inspection of a finished drinking-water reservoir. That breadth keeps ADCI guys busy. A lot of the work is tied to utilities. SRP and the city of Phoenix put out contracts for inspections and repairs. Those contracts are often bid per job or per day. The rates vary, depending on the plant and the risk. But let me tell you, nobody's getting rich overnight. It's a service business, and you earn your pay when the water's cold and the breakdown's ugly. I don't know if the 66 count is going to hold. Some small operators fold, new ones start. But as long as there's a tap in the desert, there'll be somebody underwater keeping it flowing. If you're thinking of getting into this trade, you better love being wet, cold, and occasionally scared. Because there's nothing pretty about it. But there's a certain pride in knowing you're the reason a crazy place like Phoenix can exist at all.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are there so many divers in Phoenix when it's a desert? Because the Phoenix metro has over 800 miles of canals, plus major dams, reservoirs, siphons, and water treatment plants. All of it needs underwater inspection and repair. That keeps dozens of commercial diving outfits busy. Do you need a special certification to work as a diver in Arizona? Yes. Legitimate operators require an ADCI-certified commercial diver with surface-supplied air. That means you've graduated from an approved school and logged real hours underwater. No scuba certs for this work. Is inland diving easier than offshore diving? No. You trade waves and decompression for zero visibility and cramped spaces. Inland divers often work in tunnels, under ice, in sewage, and in raw water. You need patience and a feel for what's around you. How much can a commercial diver make in Phoenix? Rates vary widely. I've seen tenders start near $20/hour and experienced divers pull $40-50/hour on certain inspection jobs. Underwater welding can go higher. But many inland contracts are bid by the day or per project, so the hourly rate isn't the whole story.