Section III Storage and Distribution 6-14. Measurement of Water level. Section III Storage and Distribution 6-14. Measurement of Water level. There are several methods for measurement of water in tanks including automatic level gauges, petcocks, and sounding tubes.
Many ships have more than one system.
On those ships with sounding rods, when not in actual use, the rod should remain in the tube at all times. On those ships using steel tapes, the tapes must be sanitized prior to each use, stored in a sanitary manner, and used only for potable water measurements. Sounding tapes may be sanitized by soaking the entire tape apparatus in a solution of 100 ppm chlorine for two minutes. Another method which can be used involves wiping the tape with a clean rag soaked in a disinfectant solution such as food service disinfectant, iodine disinfectant or alcohol sponges. The University of Iowa.