On this Labor Day weekend, AccessWDUN salutes the workers who faithfully take care of the jobs that most of us take for granted. While we know there are dozens of occupations that are deemed less-than-glamorous, we realize those who are employed in those fields are vital to keeping our communities running. We selected three such occupations to spotlight during the 2018 Labor Day weekend: a farm worker at Jaemor Farms, a project coordinator on a construction crew and a sewer cleaning technician with the City of Gainesville. Hopefully, their stories will help you appreciate these folks who are in the trenches every day. Also, if you happen to be working in a job where you feel under-appreciated, we want you to know you have our gratitude! Enjoy your Labor Day weekend!
Chances are, when you use the restroom - at home or at a public facility - you don't think about what happens after the flush. After all, that's just - well - gross. However, there are folks who are paid to think about it and make sure what ends up in the sewer system is safely disposed of on a daily basis.
The City of Gainesville Department of Water Resources maintains some 1,600 miles of underground water and sewer pipeline, and the city has some dedicated employees who are responsible for those maintenance duties.
Dean Bowling, a sewer cleaning technician who has been employed with the city for 15 years, drives and maintains the Vactor 2100, the truck that sucks up all the sludge that Gainesville's water and sewer customers dump into the system.
Bowling allowed AccessWDUN to shadow him on the job for a couple of hours recently, a job he called "stinky but necessary."
"It's not for everybody - it's really not," Bowling said, laughing. "It's a stinky job, but somebody's got to do it. I guess I'm the chosen one - I don't know - but it pays the bills."
Bowling's day starts at 8 a.m. and he's on the job until at least 4:30 p.m. every weekday, although he said he and other crew members often are called out for emergencies.
On the day AccessWDUN traveled with Bowling and his co-worker Paul Davis, they were headed first to Pump Station 4 on Dawsonville Highway for a regular cleaning. The station not only catches all the sewage from Lake Lanier Club Apartments just north of the station, but it's also the receptacle for sewage from all the businesses - including restaurants - on the busy Dawsonville Highway corridor.
Needless to say, the odor was unpleasant, but Bowling said that's something he and most other workers get used to. In fact, in his years of working in the department, he said he only worked with two employees who couldn't handle the odor and quickly quit their jobs.
Bowling said what many people don't realize is the danger associated with being a sewer technician. There are times, despite newer equipment now in use, when they have to actually go down into a sewer to check on a problem.
"Worrying about sewer gases, the hydrogen sulfide and things like that - it's a dangerous job, it really is," Bowling said. "That's one thing that we don't play around with. When we go out [on an emergency call], we take a gas detector, air monitor, harnesses...we have to be safe so we go home at the end of the day."
While the job is definitely messy and can be dangerous, it's a job that also requires technology and engineering skills. Bowling not only spends his days vacuuming out pump stations and clearing blocked water and sewer lines, he also maintains the Vactor 2100, which, at $377,000, is one of the most expensive pieces of equipment the city of Gainesville owns.
"The truck costs more than my house does and I spend more time in this truck than I do at home, so I'm very passionate about taking care of my truck," Bowling said, noting that the truck gets washed once a week and then gets a deep cleaning every other week. "It's a really nice truck. I'm really proud of it."
Bowling also calls it the "MacGyver of trucks" since it performs so many different tasks for the department.
As you might imagine, the job of a sewer technician doesn't always command a lot of respect, and Bowling said he thinks those in his department are often underappreciated. Still, he said he takes a great deal of pride in his job.
"I'm not one bit afraid of hard work," Bowling said. "I do what I've gotta do to get the job done. Teaming up with the other guys at the shop, if that's what it takes to make it work, then we make it work...I feel like you appreciate things more when you work hard for it."
