Jean, to the right wearing blue, starts suctioning with the pump. After only 10 minutes, the water has risen from ankle level to thigh.
Jean is now chest-deep in the water at the place where he is standing.
This is a 125 metre long outlet pipe which goes across the pool. The sand is pumped through the pipe to the other side of the river.
Here you can see the pipe going through the bush.
At the other end of the pipe, the mixture of sand and water are pushed out. The workers here are shovelling the sand to keep the flow going downstream.
Jean, now in a wetsuit, and another worker are definitely in deep water now!