DEP TV Operations Challenge

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]Reporting live from Bowery Bay Wastewater Recovery Facility. We're here for DEP's annual Operations Challenge.

[00:00:05]It's a competition showcasing the skills New York's toughest use everyday to keep our city flowing. Let's see what it's all about. What team are you guys representing here today? North River Dirty Water Dogs.

[00:00:16]>> explain to people what the Operations Challenge is?

[00:00:18]>> Four events, actually five. We have maintenance as one of the events, collections is another event, safety, and we also have the laboratory event.

[00:00:26]Plus the process examining. It's a showcases a lot of the skills, teamwork, [music] and a lot of these guys will do on a daily basis. It's a tremendous camaraderie builder. In fact, if you were to look at the the folks that participated over the years, they end up being the leaders of the department. The jersey is a take on where our plant is located. We got the Brooklyn Bridge in the background. And of course, being wastewater, we have the sewer cap as well. We win here, we go to state. So, first and second place teams move on to state competition. If we do well in state competition, we move on to national competition. The work that our bureau does is what has allowed dolphins and whales to come back to our harbor.

[00:01:05]Water quality is cleaner than it has been in over 100 years, and what that means is that we are protecting the public health of the city of New York.

[00:01:12]People don't really know what happens when you flush a toilet, where it goes, what's involved. These guys do a lot taking care of this place, keeping it running, keeping all the water safe.

[00:01:20]>> It's a way of us making sure that we're still focused on safety and on proper technique. Yeah.

[00:01:26]Yeah, that's our favorite is safety.

[00:01:28]>> Safety. I'm going to have to agree with that. That one safety is the That's our bread and butter.

[00:01:33]>> [laughter] >> We like rescuing Randy. Yeah.

[00:01:35]We save him every time. At the end of the day, it really doesn't matter who wins, who loses, the city wins.

[00:01:41]Takeaways from today, teamwork makes the dream work. Right, Rescue Randy?

[00:01:46]Exactly. Signing off from Bowery Bay, Gabe Lopez.

[00:01:52]>> [music]