Sludge Watch ==> Sewer Olympics - New York Times

[Maureen Reilly]

“There’s stuff coming into that sewer that even scientists haven’t figured 
out,”

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/nyregion/09sewer.html?_r=1&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 9, 2007
Working in the Sewers Is a Dirty Job, but Someone’s Got to Win
By ELLEN BARRY


A sewer is a slippery workplace. Water can move at the speed of oncoming 
traffic, even when it is not laden with tree branches, two-by-fours and the 
waste products known in the business as “turtles.” A single footstep in the 
water can stir up enough gas to knock a man unconscious. And then there is 
the smell.

But yesterday the water was clear and sparkling as 18 sewage treatment 
workers engaged in their annual competition on a brilliant morning outside 
the Jamaica wastewater treatment plant in Queens. These were not simply 
sewage treatment workers, but an elite cadre of sewage treatment workers.

George Mossos, wearing a helmet emblazoned with a bald eagle, looked 
particularly happy. He grew up dreaming of being a firefighter, he said, but 
has no regrets that he ended up in a different line of work. “It’s enough to 
serve the public,” said Mr. Mossos, 30, though he added, “Firefighters, they 
get all the TV time.”

The 20th annual Operator’s Challenge —affectionately known as the Sludge 
Olympics — had an atmosphere somewhere between rodeo and spelling bee.

In one corner, the Jamaica Jesters sawed madly through a length of PVC pipe, 
trying to replace and seal a section of sewer without allowing too much 
water to escape. In another, the Bowery Bay Bowl Busters lowered themselves 
down a manhole to retrieve a dummy representing an unconscious co-worker, 
making sure they expelled dangerous gases from the space before descending.

Co-workers bellowed encouragement. Emily Lloyd, the commissioner of the New 
York City Department of Environmental Protection, beamed.

“They’re the people nobody sees,” she said. “It’s tough work. It’s 
frequently unpleasant work. And they’re terrific at it.”

Joe Atkins, 55, who was on hand to judge the pipe event, said that his early 
days on the job had been the hard ones. He remembered coming home from work 
in the evenings, knocked out from inhaling methane, and falling fast asleep 
in his recliner. He can say now, 15 years later, that he was unprepared for 
the experience of dealing with raw sewage: condoms, tampons, rats, you name 
it. But those impressions faded after a few months.

“It’s like listening to a train,” he said. “You stop hearing it.”

These days, Mr. Atkins is able to look at the work with a scholarly 
detachment. His nose is so finely tuned that he can tell from a highway when 
he’s driving near a sewage plant. He spent six years at the Jamaica 
treatment plant, which is adjacent to Kennedy Airport and is distinguished 
by a steady stream of exotic waste.

“There’s stuff coming into that sewer that even scientists haven’t figured 
out,” he said.

Everyone had a story.

Joe Fahey remembered looking down and realizing that the shapes sliding past 
him were eels.

Yogi Kemraj recalled a four-hour predawn battle with a tree branch jammed in 
a storm drain on 59th Street, as water barreled past him up to his neck.

Roger Alava grimaced, thinking of the time he had to rinse his mouth out 
with rubbing alcohol; like all the sewage workers, he has learned to hold 
his lips permanently pursed, but a tiny splash of sewage can still go 
astray.

It bothers Mr. Alava that the city’s sewage treatment workers lack a 
municipal nickname, the way the police are New York’s finest and the 
firefighters are New York’s bravest. He likes to think of the sewage workers 
as New York’s smartest; when a pipe is spewing sewage everywhere, or an 
unseen blockage creates mounting pressure, “basically, it’s chaos 
organized,” he said. “If something breaks, it’s out of your control.”

The Operator’s Challenge highlights both the cerebral and muscular aspects 
of the job.

Upstairs in the laboratory competition, a panel of judges watched, making 
critical comments, as teams of workers measured the amount of oxygen in 
water samples, which indicates the presence of bacteria used to clean waste. 
Another test required the teams to perform exhaustive checks of a 
diesel-powered pump. (One team, which otherwise performed perfectly, was 
marked down for leaving a rag on top of the pump.)

The winners of the New York State challenge will progress to October’s 
national competition in San Diego, a morale-boosting event founded in 1988 
by the Water Environment Foundation, which represents wastewater 
professionals. There they will face teams renowned for their exhaustive 
training and extraordinary speed. A team from Los Angeles, the Crushers, is 
said to travel on a tour bus emblazoned with its name.

John Neske, a judge and sewage worker, said he had been particularly 
impressed in the past to see the national teams compete to fix the broken 
sewer pipe.

“As the little bits of PVC came off the saw, they were smoking,” Mr. Neske 
said. “It’s unbelievable.”

For most, though, yesterday’s competition served mainly as a rare day of 
self-congratulation. Friends and family don’t exactly clamor for daily news 
from wastewater treatment plants, and many workers, like Michael DeVita, 
carefully rid themselves of every trace of what they do during the day.

Mr. DeVita, 30, has a reputation for being a bit of a neat freak. His home 
is lined with pristine white carpeting, and he has always been particularly 
sensitive to smells. It is a testament to human flexibility that he has 
succeeded in wastewater treatment.

“I go down to the fish market,” he said, “I can’t handle it.”