Is NON-BUOYANT WATER Deadly?

One of the scariest warning signs I've ever seen warns of "non-buoyant" or aerated water that you will ALWAYS sink in. But is it actually dangerous?

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[jaxoncanseeyou]

My dad works at a wastewater treatment plant and one of his coworkers fell in. He didn't drown but he did immediately have to be placed on large amounts of a broad spectrum of antibiotics because of all the microbes. He didn't develop any disease though so it all worked out

[dominionokno]

I work at a sewage treatment plant and I have to say that I'd still be scared to fall into one. Not because of the buoyancy, neither because of the germs, but because of the crazy current from the inlets and zero visibility. If your eyes sink under the surface, there is almost no way to know which way to swim.

[chriskallen]

Being a chemical engineer, I've visited several waste treatment facilities. I've warned my colleagues about not entering aeration tanks. The response was usually something like, "Gee, thanks, Chris. I was just about to jump into an ocean of s---, and you stopped me from doing that!"

[matthewwong]

I work at a wastewater treatment plant, the most dangerous thing when falling into any tanks is the oxygen displacement from various gases produced from the waste. We had someone die from falling into the sludge tank and even though it was only chest deep he died from asphyxiation.

[KyleCowden]

During my swift water rescue training, we had a "boil swim" where you go into the boil at the bottom of a low head or spillway. Mind you, we had rescuer PFD's on and wet suits. Hit that aerated water and went clunk on the bottom.. about 7-8' deep. I sat there for a second and got my bearings before rolling out from it. You WILL sink in aerated water and if you're not prepared, that's where they'll find you.

[Ganbalf]

non-bouyant water is also one of the theories regarding some of the happenings in the bermuda triangle.
The theory is essentially that methane gas pockets build beneath the sludge and then release beneath ships, causing them to become less bouyant, capsizing them.





I should add that this is something that doesn't have to be specific to the bermuda triangle, considering that it doesn't seem to be a statistical anomaly in the first place(in reference to the number of disappearances). It's just a theory that has been tied to the bermuda triangle for "reasons".

[jaxhobes]

I’m a industrial electrician and my company specializes in building water treatment plants, we’ve been warned many times of the dangers involved especially with the “water full of air” as some of us call it. Glad to see this information get shared.

[gusrtw]

At that point, I think the floaty thing isn't the only trait that water has lost, the glug-glug part of it is looong gone as well 😅

[domib]

As a wastewater engineer this warms my heart. Wastewater just doesn't get enough focus and recognition.

I want to add that there are other factors of danger to be considered: Especially on smaller plants there isn't a lot of personnel - sometimes just one person (even though in theory it isn't allowed). So if you fall in, you are on your own. Also most aeration basins I have seen have quite the excess height at the brim so you have to get to a ladder to get out.

[coltonholiday]

I've had to do a few fab jobs above these tanks. Was warned pretty sternly beforehand that the bubbly poo water was quite dangerous.

[necko]

I've experienced turbulent flows with lots of air bubbles and it's terrifying, no matter how much you're flapping your arms and legs, you're just going down.

[derspinner]

Drowning in human waste must be the worst way to expire.

[LifeWithMatthew]

Yeah, I remember the first time I did some programming work at a waste water treatment plant and asked why there weren't any ladders attached to the side of the aeration basins and was quickly told it was because if I fell in there would be no swimming to the side. Definitely a fact that sticks in the mind.

[matthewshiers]

That's actually terrifying!
The first instinctive reaction of anyone falling into one of those vats would be to swim to the edge.
Based on the diagram shown at 10:16, that's exactly where they would be at greatest risk of being pulled under and drowning.

[stanettiels]

I remember seeing a documentary about how a ship vanished, and one theory was that an underwater eruption of some kind aerated the water making the ship lose buoyancy. They demonstrated it with a scale model and it was fascinating but it was a rogue wave that did it.

[korturas]

I used to work in the offshore drilling industry. Whenever we started a new well we'd have to have a guy spend their entire shift "bubble watching". Disturbing the seabed while drilling the first phase of the well has the potential to release large volumes of gasses, to the point where the drilling rig would no longer be able to remain buoyant.

[rickyh]

Hi, hello, ex diver here (Like diving boards with flips and sh*t). Anyway we actually put aerators in the bottom of the dive tank during practice for a few reasons! 1 it lets you see the surface of the water easier, and 2 if you mess up your flips and belly flop from 3 meters high the water is quite broken up (less surface tension and lots of air bubbles) it hurts a lot less. Pretty cool stuff! Aerated water definitely feels different but you can swim in it!

[Grymgar]

I think the major sticking point for me with falling in one of these would be fear of the microbes (bugs), not the aeration of the water.

[greenspiraldragon]

Methane bubbles from the sea floor could, in theory, sink ships and may explain the odd disappearances of some vessels

[The_McFortner]

Part of it could be the large amount of CO2 released by the microbes caused those people to pass out from lack of oxygen and then drown. I remember touring the Jack Daniels distillery a couple of decades ago and they would not let you too close to the fermentation tanks because of this.