Special DEP crews use technology and teamwork to save the city millions in dollars and gallons of water.

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

The Construction Laborers of Local 376 who staff the Dept. of Environmental Protection’s special 12-man leak detection squad move through a maze of city streets with their ears to the ground in search of the sound of running water.

Like physicians with stethoscopes, the leak finders use sophisticated computers to find murmurs in the waterworks buried below the city’s asphalt surface. The technology helps pinpoint the smallest fissures in the city’s water mains.

Sound detection equipment allows the leak detection crews to hear the low-frequency gurgles that anticipate a leak or a break in a pipe or water main, before a complete rupture floods a neighborhood thoroughfare. Their computer then calculates and maps the exact location of the problem. Their work is a preventive measure that saves the city thousands of dollars in repairs and property damage, and millions of gallons of precious water.

“Without these men, Firefighters couldn’t do their jobs, and people couldn’t bathe,” said Gene DeMartino, president of NYC Construction Laborers, Highway Repairers and Watershed Maintainers Local 376. “That’s how dependent our city is on its water sources.”

Block by block, the leak finders check the water pressure at fireplugs and in underground pipes. In winter months the detection crews concentrate on water mains. In the summer they look for broken fire hydrants and clogged catch basins. Should a leak go undetected, a street could cave in. Or if a leak reaches electrical cables it could cause a power outage, or shoot steam 20 feet in the air through manhole covers.

The detection team reports its findings to a borough repair yard where about 60 Local 376 members and their supervisors in Local 1322 work. The second phase of the operation begins as DEP deploys repair crews to follow-up on the field reports.

With jackhammers, pickaxes and backhoes the leak fixers begin the backbreaking work of digging four-foot deep trenches to excavate the area pinpointed on the computerized maps. They burrow through asphalt and cement to unearth the damaged pipe.

After shutting off the water main and pumping out the excess water, the crew begins the repair process by sawing away the damaged pipe. They replace it by welding new pipe into the supply line.

It takes about a year for DEP’s leak detection squad to make the circuit of the five boroughs. In 2002 the crews combed more than 10.5 million linear feet of pipe, roughly the distance from New York to the Florida panhandle or about 2,000 miles. Together, the leak squad and repair workers saved the city millions of dollars last year.

The DEP crews work outdoors, around the clock, and in all types of weather. The Construction Laborers are prevailing wage employees, but their last contract under the Giuliani administration left them $6 an hour below the industry average.

“No city can survive without water. Our paychecks should be corrected to reflect the true value of our work to the people of New York City,” said Local 1322 President John Townsend.

As they enter into negotiations for a new contract, Local 376 member George Morales said, “We are not looking for a big increase. We just want a fair handshake.”