It’s hard to miss the voluminous tents strewn across the landscape of Bicentennial Park at the Scioto Mile.

Nope, it’s not the Boy Scouts (not yet anyway).

It’s the pipe team – the crew that connects the massive network of pipes to supply the fountain. Like all members of the construction team, the pipe-people will work in any weather condition. It’s the pipe adhesives that are persnickety. For optimal sealing conditions, the pipes and the glue have to be warm. Hence, the whole zone is under wraps – with heaters and tents to hold the heat in.

Connecting the pipes is actually a two-part job: after the adhesive has set, the seals are then tested.

This tenting is to keep the fountain pipes warm – not the workers

Keep in mind that Scioto Mile builders have been using state-of-the-art equipment. Onlookers might see remote-operated compacters or fancy post-tensioning cable. In keeping with the high-tech theme, there’s probably a super-duper special leak detector for these pipes. Perhaps the crew uses black lights . . . or magnetic detection devices or sonar waves?

Nope: they flood the pipes with water. All that water under pressure will show any breech in the system – with a drip or a teeny puddle. While the high-tech construction tools are nice, sometimes the old way is really the best way.

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