Local 1039 Keeps Drinking Water Safe and Running

Portsmouth, Ohio

In this town near the Kentucky border, the sequence of intense cold, snow melt, and rain had members of AFSCME Local 1039 working full-time—first to prevent an overflow of the sewer system, then to keep the water system itself running.

On Monday, January 22, Department of Public Utilities workers were called out to keep the storm water—which runs through the same pipes as the sewer system—from causing an overflow of the sewer system. In the days that followed, flood defense workers like Kenneth Blankenship and Douglas McNutt were on the job non-stop—sometimes for 24 hours straight—monitoring the river level and the flood station pumps. Plant Operator Cathi Shump kept a close eye on the gauges and meters at the sewage treatment plant, while workers from the Sewer Maintenance Division unclogged pipes and pumped out basements.

They succeeded in keeping the sewer system from overflowing, but cold temperatures left the town with another problem: breaking pipes. On Saturday, February 3, workers from Maintenance & Construction and from Waterworks were called out and didn't get a break until the following Thursday—when broken equipment let them take four hours off. Facing the destruction of streets and property—and the loss of city water—crews from Waterworks, Sewer, and even the Traffic Light division—all of whom had done this work before—were busy locating and repairing small lines.

Local 1039 Pres. Roy Payton said, "Our members went above and beyond their jobs—both in the hours they worked and the weather." He said citizens noticed and appreciated their effort, telling of a woman who had called him earlier. There was a crew out on her street, she said, and she had seen them working at all hours in the awful weather. She wanted to know how many people were out there, because she was making coffee to bring out to them.