Public Employee Press

Answering the city's call
Risking their lives to prevent pollution disasters
Sewage Treatment Workers

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

Few people have had to swim for their lives, but Local 1320 Sewage Treatment Workers at the Oakwood Beach Water Treatment Plant on Staten Island were forced to swim or die Oct. 29, when the Dept. of Environmental Protection ordered them to evacuate equipment to higher ground as Superstorm Sandy pummeled the city.

"We loaded the generators and hydraulic pumps on the truck, but when we got to the plant gate we found three feet of water, rising fast. Ice cold water started to fill the cab," said STW Sal Parrino. In minutes he was neck-deep.

"Then I felt chest pain and could not breathe," he said.

"We had minutes to get out," said STW Tom Dawe. His quick-thinking coworkers helped Parrino out of the truck and to safety on top of a generator, but the surge was moving fast. With no choice they dived in and swam through the darkness, pulling their sick coworker through rough currents in 12-foot-deep water with electric wires sparking overhead.

Pointing to a row of homes in the distance, Senior STW Charlie Wagelman said, "We made it to that deck and climbed onto the house." The crew was missing for over two hours.

"We thought they were dead," said Local 1320 President Jim Tucciarelli. "It's terrible to think what could have happened."

Cold and wet, they made it to the higher elevation of the new DEP plant. Despite repeated calls to 911, Parrino, who was still in distress, waited in vain for an ambulance to get through.

Understaffing raised risks

Since last summer, DEP had cut the Oakwood crew to five and refused to mandate more appropriate staff levels, Tucciarelli said, but after Sandy, management agreed to add more workers in January 2013.

Local 1320 members labored around the clock, some working more than 100 hours a week after Sandy to keep the city's wastewater treatment plants (except Rockaway) running at maximum capacity, while plants in New Jersey and Long Island dumped millions of gallons of raw sewage into surrounding waterways.

By sparing the five boroughs its worst devastation, 2011's Hurricane Irene "put everyone to sleep," said STW Mark Kransapolski. Along with Parrino, he credits Engineer Jeff Healy for saving them and rescuing four civilians, including an elderly couple who had been trapped as Sandy raged. Four Staten Islanders died on that street.

"The DEP has to do a better job with emergency evacuation plans," said Tucciarelli.

While the STWs of Staten Island were risking their lives, a Local 1320 crew at the Rockaway Water Treatment Plant fought their own battle against Sandy.

"The plant took on water like a sinking ship," said STW Michael Gravelli, who was called in to work double shifts at the facility on the narrow strip of land that separates Jamaica Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.

In 20 minutes, the lockers, showers and laundry rooms in the basement flooded like a scene from "Titanic." At high tide, seawater poured down the stairs and filled the tunnels that connect the plant's labyrinth of buildings. Power dipped, dimming lights and threatening electrical outages.

The crew made the split-second decision to shut the gates before Sandy wreaked havoc.

"I was scared and numb. I wondered if we'd make it out alive," Gravelli said.

The workers saw the storm take out their equipment and worksite. Two STWs lost their vehicles. The workers, still in wet and contaminated work clothes, reeked of sewage. There were no boots or masks at the plant, no ventilation, no food, no drinking water - only DEP-issued leather gloves and hard hats - but the work went on without complaint.

Unlike the surrounding neighborhood, the plant recovered in three weeks because of the Local 1320 members' swift action and willingness to stay on duty for long hours.

STW J.P. Lessard left his family and storm-damaged home in Long Beach, Long Island, behind as he reached the plant on Tuesday with food for his coworkers. "The smell of diesel fumes was so strong the Rockaway neighborhood could have blown up," said Lessard. His Long Island home was damaged; his nine-year-old twins relocated. "We are sleeping on air mattresses and we have no heat," he said, "but I tell my girls, 'We're as tough as nails.' "

STW Vincent Calcagno said the storm surge swallowed his home. "I carried my daughter and then my wife to safety on my back through waist-deep water," he said. The flood reached the top of his front stoop in tranquil Oceanside, Long Island, and his home sustained $70,000 in damage.

"The whole block was underwater. It was hard to gauge the storm because there was not a lot of rain," Calcagno said. "It was a mistake not to leave. You never think you could ever be so vulnerable, but there are a lot worse stories."

"These members put their lives on the line and prevented sewage from contaminating the water system," said Tucciarelli. "They deserve credit because when their families needed them, these first responders were on the front lines dedicated to helping the community."