Public Employee Press

DEP workers get supertrucks

Four new trucks at $500,000 apiece are the latest achievements of the Dept. of Environmental Protection’s Quality of Work Life Equipment Committee, announced acting Committee Chair Jim Tucciarelli, the president of Sewage Treatment Workers and Senior STWs Local 1320. The Vactor trucks mount a jet flusher hose on the front to break up sewer clogs with a high-pressure stream of water.

On the rear they carry a giant vacuum cleaner that sucks water and debris from sewers, manholes and tanks, strains out the water and dumps the solids into a container.

The QWL Committee spent five years designing the trucks, securing funding and planning training for operators.

Two of the high-tech marvels are assigned to the Bureau of Water and Sewer Operations and the other pair will be used by the Bureau of Wastewater Treatment.