Eric Ekoue was born and raised on the Ivory Coast, and left two years into his Biology, Chemistry, and Geology studies to come to the US where he studied at Essex County College. Eric’s path led him to the Watershed when he began working at the Newark Water Plant, and had led him to his career. As an expert in his field, Eric discusses the City of New Brunswick’s Water Utility, and the need for all of us to conserve and protect our water sources.

ANNOTATIONS

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TRANSCRIPT

Interview conducted by Daniel Swern

New Brunswick, New Jersey

July 8, 2019

Transcription by Allison Baldwin

[Beginning of File 1]

00:00

Today is Monday, July 8th. It is 6:12pm. My name is Dan Swern and I am here at CoLab Arts on Bayard Street and I’m interviewing

Eric Ekoue

Eric, thank you so much for taking the time today to speak with us, um, so whenever you’re ready you can just start from the very beginning. 

Okay. I am Eric. I was born on the Ivory Coast in 1977 and I was raised by a single mother. She had two siblings. I have three and she [unclear]. I grew up in a house with siblings, a lot of girls, and my mother was raising– my mother was taking care of the whole family. This also goes to the family bond, family-related when you go to the workplace, so I remember going to Catholic school all up to ninth grade. My mother, as a single mother, I remember, in the early eighties she was working two jobs in order to pay for school, to send three children to Catholic school, and her own education. I still remember a lot of days, working, doing my homework, while my mother was at her second job in the office. A lot of me walking and my mother taking me from office to office so that she could work. I had to be very quiet because she was on the office call, and one thing she told me was, “Wait.” So I was always waiting after school for her– for her to finish work. A lot of waiting during those days. [Unclear].

Growing up, my mother also she would emphasize us practicing sport, so I was also doing sport and school and I tried a lot of different sports until I found that my true love of sports was rugby. I did rugby from the age of 7 until, I stopped May, maybe early 2000, um, fourteen. And I still love the game. I still watch the game. It’s a sport I love to see soccer. I grew up with that. I grew up with that mentality of loving a group game. You build a lot of camaraderie, but it also teaches you leadership. And teamwork. During my path I had– I had my high school in Ivory Coast and University. I did two years of University in the Ivory Coast for Biology, Chemistry, and Geology. And I was a very young African. I chose to come to the United States. Growing up it was known that you have that love of freedom, the legend of the dream come true. It was dream come true to come to the United States, so I came in 2000 through a student Visa. Throughout the school year I was going through school at Essex County College. I went through school at Essex County College. I changed my major to electrical engineering. Which I actually changed to because going back to my infant age, my young age, my favorite toy was/is a LEGO. My mother couldn’t afford to buy us all those Christmas gifts and all those LEGOs and I still remember her making sure every Christmas, because my birthday was close to Christmas, so I was that kid with only one gift. I thought I was the kid with only one gift. You have to choose between the birthday and the Christmas. So I was getting my gift for one Christmas and one birthday. And she always made sure I had a new LEGO piece and I was attached to it. She fostered my love of reading because every single book she ever gave me—she loved to give me the science books—she always loved to give me the science books, and I would go from cover to cover and discover, have questions. I remember my first encyclopedia and it was really expensive so she started buying volume after volume for me, in order so that I would get the message/knowledge. And that was something I really enjoyed from my early–

7:00

I wasn’t from a prime neighborhood. It was what you call a tough neighborhood. Where my mother had her house it wasn’t that easy, and under the directive of my brother and his supervision, he—my brother was really tough with me—he allowed me and directed me to stay within the right path and not be directed toward the wrong [unclear]– me growing up. As a teenager sometimes you have some bad influence, but I was placed in a family that was able to redirect me to emerge and be who I am today. 

Uh. Um. In 2000, when I came to the United States, I was with my brother. He was enrolling– we were both enrolling at Essex County in the engineering program. And we took the class for– I was a full time student for two semesters. And I found out that it was really hard, so I cut down on my classes I was taking, and so I started to work so that I could pay for classes, because it was hard to work and pay the cost, the fee. I stumbled in and out of school for years, but I was always was looking at attending class. So, every time I have some savings, even if it took a couple more years, I was always trying to take some class. And I was working downtown in Newark as a parking attendant. And I was going to school at night. I took a couple classes at community college and, uh, stumbled onto John Garden, and he saw something in me. He was the businessman for the Newark Watershed. The office was right next to the parking lot and he approached me. And asked– we start talking, we befriend each other and he give me an offer to start working for the Newark Water Plant– [unclear] I took that offer and went to work for the Water Plant in 2006.

10:43

Since then the story is, I get there and I find myself using my field of geology because we were studying the river flow, we was going sampling the river, so I did kind of find my path of study that I left back home. It just sort of reignited the light of passion for it. I was guided by a couple, a good supervisor and manager, who took me under their wing and nurtured the love for the water industry, and from there I pushed to get all of my certifications that got me to where I am standing today with my D4 [unclear] license, which is the highest license you can have– with my W license, for distribution. There are three licenses you can get. I just have one more exam to take. 

I’m still striving to be a great citizen for any community, but particularly in New Brunswick because I love it. I did fall in love with it. As a resident, I fell in love with the administration because they have managed to make the city really beautiful and revitalize it and make it the best city, to my mind. That’s where we are striving to get to, turning the utility to the best utility and also the best city.

13:00

In 2017, yes, 2017, I worked on my certification at Rutgers for a year. I went and took my certificate– my public manager’s certification. And that really reignited my love, and it did and also enhanced my love for public service in New Jersey and culturally. It really guide me and motivate me more to better serve my community. Like every CPM from our cohort, we call each other, because we really love the program. I would take it again if I have to because I really enjoyed the program, I really enjoyed the material that they give you. We enjoy the natural process of learning something. You know, I really enjoyed the material they gave, always revert to my documents, materials, and my classroom assignments and experiences and use it as a guideline in most decisions I am making. And I’m proud to be a certified public manager.

So, do you have any questions?

Eric, can you tell me about any bodies of water you grew up around or any recreational opportunities you had with the outdoors or anything like that?

Uh. Sure. Yes, Growing up as a kid I was in Africa in what they call the Laguna. So, it was a river going toward the sea. And at young age our parents used to warn us or go with us because it was really dangerous, like a lot of kids would drown around that body of water. But as a kid we loved to go down there because you can go fishing, you can go, it’s wild area down there and you know—

15:38 

[End of File 1]

[Beginning of File 2]

00:00

Yes. Growing up as a kid, the area I grew up, was near a laguna [lagoon]. It used to be marsh– they would fill it and then they dredged it so the body of water wasn’t that far. The ground where I was playing was all sandy. In places that are tropical, that’s how it is. But we really enjoyed going to that body. A lot of kids drowned down there due to the dredging. There was a lot of dredging due to the removal of the sand. Construction. So, there was a lot of deep holes in that area. You walk there, you find a body of water, you drop down to 20-25 feet wide on the same path. And our parents would hate us going down there, but I still, as a teenager, we loved to go fishing, we loved to go, what you call crabbing or look for crabs and have fun. So, we was always down there, but one thing I always say to the– to my coworker when I am talking about my early time with a body of water was I remember around six pm when the sun set, it was the best time to fish. Not because of the fish coming up, but because the soil company at that time was discharging the warm soil into that body of water and the fish knew and they were kind of used to that time, so when sun down they were all coming toward the shore to get that whole mix of sewage to the clear body. 

And, last time I went on to the Google Map, we were just looking at the map and looking at the satellite, and looking at that body that used to be a shore is now an island. Twenty years later. From the turn-off from the sewage company and the pipe that used to come and discharge on the water. It’s all silt. So, now it is a small island made from all of the sand being discharged and I showed it to my co-worker. Bless God that we never got sick. We never got sick, but we were swimming. We were swimming on some shitty, I’m not sure I can say this, we were fishing on some shitty water. And me working in the industry, it made me more aware of the need of producing and protecting the population because, first, as a license operator, it’s our duty to protect the resident from things I was exposed to as a kid. Now is my time, and though I am not on the sewer side of things it is my duty to make sure every single resident of New Brunswick is getting the best quality water. 

4:08

We don’t sleep on that. We strive to produce that every single day. I would rather shut down the plant if we can’t produce clean water. Any resident, every resident is, you know, exposed to something, but I say no. We are not for that. I am not for that. I would not be able to sleep. That’s a nightmare for sure. That’s why we always make sure that the resident not only get good quality, but the best quality water. We strive for that. And I think so far, we’re doing a good job.

5:08

Um. Can you share any anecdotes that you shared with your mother, and did you have time, recreational time together, leisure time together? Where it wasn’t at the office, it wasn’t Christmas, it was just any outdoor time together?

Uh. We were traveling to the village together. Yes, we was driving to the village together, we was going to– [pause] I love traveling with my mother to go to the village or if my brother was going to the village, soon like our mother, and that was the best time. Vacationing somewhere. You could spend a month in the village. You wake up, you– at night time it is not late it is– we have electricity but it’s sparingly. It is not like the whole street. It’s just like one house and not the whole village, so most the kids sit around a wood fire. We have stories, we play games, we– it was the best exposure to nature. We walk to the wood. We would go fish, but it was– it wasn’t the city, but it was more with the village and the village kids. Those moments, I always enjoyed. I still have memories.

7:32

The first memory I have with my mother and brother is the family games. Not traveling, but we used to sit as a family and play games. This is something that I am still trying to give to my son. Because as a kid they are so anchored to their phone.  Yes. As a family we play the monopoly game and we just sit as a family and enjoy a night together. We sit together and enjoy the night, get them to enjoy the night as a kid. I still remember, as a kid, playing on the sand. My sister and I still have those– those gametime memories fresh in our memory. Us playing, arguing over a couple of marbles. It was a great time. I was also playing, my mother has a football. And I was quite a great football player too. [laughter] Growing up I was made fun of as a great football player. It was a great time. 

Did you play rugby just recreationally? Or did you play–

Uh. I played competitively. I played competitively for Ivory Coast when I was young and I also played for two professional teams. Before I came here. Growing up, I played for EC, which was the electrical company at that time. I also played for [unclear]. When they broke down I played for ASPA, it was for the port. I did play for them, and that was before I came to the state. And those were national teams as well, national rugby club. 

How did you come to Rugby?

Rugby was, at a Catholic School it was the sport. At Catholic school it was one of the main games they teach us. And my brother played and played with me. As a young boy I always wanted to do what my brother was doing. 

10:56 

[End of File 2]

[Beginning of File 3]

00:00

Yes. In Catholic School that was the first ball– sport they introduced to us instead of playing soccer. It was the first sport I was introduced to and I just fell in love with the sport. I was a really good player. As they say, anything you put your heart to, you get good at it. Anything I tried to do, I really put myself and my love and passion into it. 

Do you have other siblings?

Can I show you a picture?

Oh, sure. 

[Eric proceeds to show picture. There is laughing. Dan asks if he can take a picture of the picture. Eric says, “It’s okay if you want to.”]

1:28 

[End of File 3]

[Beginning of File 4]

00:00

I was just asking if you could tell me about your siblings. 

Oh. My siblings. My older brother, Godfrey, we love each other– but we have– he is ten years older than me. So, due to the fact that we was raised by a single mother he– he had to go to start working early. He was going to technical school and he had to stop going to start working early to help my mother with the duty. This also make him somewhat of a father figure. And that create a lot of clash between me and him, But I really love him. Luckily we are pretty good, have a good understanding and, yes, but my sister is, I always call her my (unintelligible) twin. Uh. My mother lost my twin sister when she was a baby so my sister always says, “Oh, that’s my twin brother.” And I dearly love her. She– she also one of the– she’s my anchor, the person I talk to every single night. Leaving work, coming to work, exchanging a lot of communication. She– she’s my mother. I’m always looking up to her. She’s my family. I really enjoy being around her, my mother, and my wife and kids. I really enjoy my siblings. They advise me. We have great times together, but like every family we have some argument. On, how can I say it is, my family side, my brother, he is always calling me baby boy. It’s always my mother and me and my sister so if there’s any argument between me and my brother, my sister will always take my side, and I will always take my sister’s side. And it would be my mother and my brother. But my mother always had that mindset where we could speak our minds. And even as the mother, if she did something that wasn’t right, we were able, with respect, to tell her, “No, Mom, you’re wrong. No, Mom, you’re right.” She was, we were always able, to be able to speak our mind. [whispers] And I speak my mind when I have to, yes. 

Your sister is Edith?

Yes, Edith is my sister, yes. 

Tell me about your family. Tell me about your family, your wife and kids. 

Hm?

Tell me about your family, your wife and kids.

Oh my wife, Tinisha. Tish is, I call my wife Tish. Tinisha is– we met in 2003. She was a very good friend. She was a first time student at the college I was in and out of. I was in and out of class doing jobs. But she was a very good friend, we fell in love, like teenagers. Got married and we have three children. Sinai is our oldest daughter. She was born in 2006. Josai is the middle boy. He was born in 2008, and the youngest one is Malakai who was born in 2012. I think– I try my best to raise these kids with the same values I had growing up. Understanding. Diligent to their passion. And, like every parent, sometimes you sacrifice for your kid. I stopped playing [unclear] because my kid was playing karate because there was a conflict of schedule. I push them to karate. This year they all decide to stop. My brother’s kid did karate too, they were all in the same. And it’s like, all of a sudden, it’s like five kids decide they don’t want to do karate anymore. 

You were doing what together? 

Karate.

Oh, Karate. 

7:00

I live in the same town as my sibling. In Piscataway. So I see them quite often. My mother and my sister and my brother. We talk to each other almost every day. And we enjoy having meals together. Food. And we just tell stories from back home, events, and we just sit down and laugh and crack up. Those times are priceless. I enjoy sitting down with my brother and sister. Even after a long day of work, we can stay up until late night even just crack joke. It’s priceless. It’s those moments, you know, of you enjoy being around your family. I’m blessed to still have my sibling family near me [unclear]. 

Are you a US Citizen?

Yes.

Can you tell me about that process?

Um. It started in 2000. I applied for my citizenship and I became a citizen in 2012, I think? Twelve or thirteen. Yes, I became a citizen. I was a little bit older around that time, after my marriage. It is– it was stressful system you have to go through. With your– with my wife. But I’m being– [pause]

It’s the path of the women’s rights because every place/case is different with immigration. It’s a crazy system that you have to go through, the system to become a resident, with immigration, and I remember a few years ago, two years ago, I took my niece, my daughter, to– to have a– to 970 Broad Street in Newark. That’s the immigration office. It’s [laughter], this number is just written in your mind because you’ve been back and forth so many times, you know, for the process. And I went down there with them, and she was being sworn to be a citizen and she was taking it for granted. She was so relaxed. I said, “You don’t even know. Walking into this building, as an immigrant, you don’t even know if you lived to be there.” And that’s how stressful it is. Going for an interview at immigration, going through that is really hard. And sometimes, you don’t want to put that, you don’t want to talk about it. You hear some stories sometimes and it’s hard. You just want to shed a tear because it’s home. But, we not know, if many/any immigrant like to talk about it because it is so painful for us to share it. It’s a painful process, going to the immigration office. 

12:26

Um. So, how did that– so you were in college when you met Tish. How did you guys meet, start dating?

Oh, yes, we– she was out of college to her sister’s house in East Orange, and because I was working a lot, doing a lot of work, I was working in construction, working with my hands. As a handyman for the landlord and they had some plumbing issue, in the sister’s apartment, and the landlord asked me to take care of it and I went down there and I fixed, I fixed the problem. I first met Tinisha’s mother. And we started talking and she introduced me to her daughter who was my age and she said, “I have a really nice daughter, I would like you two to meet,” and we kind of quickly became friends and we went on a date. At the time I remember, Tinisha’s friend, who was African, used to hate me, for no reason. She could not stand me. For no reason, whatsoever. So, we would have double dates, we went to– we set her up with an old friend of mine and this girl, [unclear] would screw up the date and she was arguing with my friend. It was a short date after that. I was like, I don’t want to see that girl ever again. I was like, oh my god, she’s giving me a headache. It wasn’t Tinisha, it was just her friend being around me. After that I think Tinisha gave me a call back because we used to talk every night and we decided to go for another date, this time without her friend. And we was hanging out, we was really good friends for a couple months. And now we have three kids– life. [laughter] We’ve been through our ups and downs, but we love each other and treasure our time together.

15:44

She went for accounting and finance. Currently she works for the office of Economic Development at Rutgers. 

What were you planning to do for your career, like as an engineer?

Oh, it was like any good product, I was already in the field. Growing up we had– going back to the Ivory Coast, my brother, he immigrate here in ’92/93 and he was working and had a side business out of my mother’s house. He was fixing, he went to school for electronic and he was fixing tv and electronic equipment back home. And he was quite good at it. He made quite a name for himself fixing this equipment. He ran his business, saved his money, and moved to the states. So, when he left, I was a young teenager, still going to school, with all these tools, because he has a business. And I didn’t, ah, I had a few clues about electronics but I wasn’t like the full, because I didn’t go to school for it, so I managed his business to the best I could. I don’t want to say that I liquidated his business, but that’s what I did. I gave the stuff to his friend. But I also created a business model where, when people were coming for tools, instead of giving them the tools, I was renting the tools to them. I was going with the tools to the job site and I would see them working, like if they needed tools or like a special tester. Yeah, special tester, back in the day they were using tools to test the big tvs with the tubes. And I was going with them and testing and charging a fee. 

19:03

We also had a lot of construction tools in the house. I was renting to the neighborhood and that’s where I started my business venue [unclear].

19:40

In 2015, I think I went back home. And my cousin, who was a great baker, he had a big bakery business, he is like the cake boss of the Ivory Coast. He’s always on TVs and everything. 

20:02

And he showed me his first setting of wedding, of wedding cake. The setting he used, fifteen years later, was the first set I made for him. And he’s still using it, like, on the crown platter display. He was displaying the cake. I remember he gave us the money and I took and put a couple of young guys from the neighborhood together and we decide instead of buying and things we decide to build it. We bought all the material and get it together and he enjoy it. There are a lot of subjects here, so [laughter]– 

Tell me about the Watershed in Newark.

Oh. The Watershed. The Watershed is made of five reservoirs: Canistear, Oak Ridge, Clinton, Echo Lake, and Charlotteburg.  And those are five bodies of water in Essex County. A beautiful area. Wide. And this land was bought by the city of Newark in the early 1900s, late 1800s, to preserve for development for the city to use as their water source. [unclear] The city of New York also bought the Catskills, upstate New York, for the water source so this area has been preserved for the water source so–

Those four reservoirs interlock into the fifth one, which is Charlotteburg. It’s like a horseshoe and it goes through a big dam where the city has a water plant, a whole water plant where they used to have screen to block any branch or log coming down to the river, so they had a screen chamber and past the screen chamber is the pre-treat building where they add chlorine. Chlorine has been added to the water process in the early 1900s. And it’s been treated. At the pre-treat they add the first [unclear] and then it goes to the new water treatment place in the early 80s because with the change in the regulation, it was requiring most major cities in New Jersey to have a treatment facility so the water cannot just be taken from the source, from the river or reservoir and sent to the resident without treatment. And without filtration also, so the water has been filtered at a treatment plant in West Milford and goes all over, over forty miles, all the way from West Milford to Newark. And during that path the city of Newark also sends water to the city of Pequannock. Nutley. Belleview, Bloomfield, East Orange, each major city is also being watered during that process. The Watershed also activities a summer camp. The kids. And as a watershed operator I wasn’t just taking care of the plant I was also taking care of the reservoirs and the watershed area. That was one of the things I used to enjoy, sample the water, summer or winter. 

25:12

I had to go into the water and wear those really big waiters and I had to go into the water in the ice and it’s really cold at sunset so you would have to take a hack and tie a rope behind your back and smash the ice and send it back to the lab at sunset. There was a lot of bears at sunset, so we were always, always carrying bear spray with us. A lot of bears out there. But it was us with nature just testing to make sure the water coming down is always the same and also allow us to regulate which reservoir to take from. Based on the sample, we would find out which reservoir was the most suitable for treatment. There was a monitor some farmland, and a ranch, uh, I don’t want to say ranch, a stable in the area that was run down because it creates what you call algae. From those animals because they can carry bacteria. We were monitoring those also, those popular areas, popular farms or stables. We sampled a lot of stream. That’s the watershed.

What kept you engaged with that kind of work after Newark Watershed?

I have always been devoted. Anything I do I try to give my best. Anything in life, if you enjoy it, there is a saying, “If you enjoy what you do, you never work a day in your life.” And I’m always looking for passionate things I am doing and trying to do my best. Because you can only grow when you learn and enjoy what you’re doing. It’s my nature. 

29:02 

[End of File 4]

[Beginning of File 5]

00:00

So, tell me about the tattoo on your arm. 

The tattoo on my arm is, is, it’s a proverb that I always keep in the back of my mind. It is by Vivian Green. She says, “I will not wait for the storm to pass, I will learn how to dance in the rain.” And it means a lot. Because in life all that we have been going through, you have to be passive, you just have to be, have to have the inner vision, the intuition and looking at it to make change, no matter what the situation is. And I use that. And I think that was something I would love to have on my hand so I put the lady with her umbrella under a storm, she has her boots and she is dancing with the water flow. Which is my, I always say, I plant for the love of water. So I love it. I have to go back and finish it up. It’s the first bit. But it has to get done again, more color. I’m proud of it. 

So, uh, where did you go after Newark Watershed?

After Newark Watershed– the watershed is for the city of Newark, and I started to work with American Water, and my first project, American Water Enterprise, and American Water Enterprise is the non-regulated side of American Water. It is the contractor side. With a group we go to different municipalities or different states and things and take utility who is in trouble, take it and manage it for a fee.  We either decide to turn it back or keep it American Water and remove [unclear]. I met the director of the program was Jim [unclear] interviewed me and they pulled me on board. My first project was also with New Brunswick. I came into New Brunswick and started working with the guys in New Brunswick. It was challenging in the beginning. The guys had been through a lot with the loss of all the senior management just up and left in one day, and the guys had no more, the city had no more utility. They were under a lot of stress and had to communicate the message and the vision was hard. But working with Jim and others I was able to gain the trust of those employees and especially was able to communicate what we would need and what we were looking at as sharing. We weren’t just coming down there as a contractor. We were trying to solve a problem. They were so cold to me because I wasn’t with them, I wasn’t fully involved with that because I was coming from a different sector so I had no idea what they was going through. And I was able to bring the team, set them back up, and, with I believe, even as a contractor, you start building a bond with all the utility workers. And when the contract was over, I was approached by the administration and they made me an offer. As a residential director of American Water, I do not need to leave American Water, but still can pursue my duty to New Brunswick. I am for it. Since then I will be working with the city.

5:45

Um. What did you pick up with the Watershed that American Water was  interested in? What were you hired to do for them?

Oh. I was a site supervisor so I was coming because I was already working in a large utility. It was more challenging. It was like a big filtration utility and in the water industry, in the water plant we have two kinds of filtration plants. We have the general filtration plant and the professional filtration plant. In the general filtration plant you have less than an hour to respond. The process from the water getting to the plant to leave the plant so it’s really essential you have to be able to respond and maintain the plant or you will lose the plant. You have to be able to really blunt on your initial thinking. It is the way we test for the proper chemical to apply to the process to be in sync so you don’t lose your place. And in New Brunswick it is a professional filtration. It is four hours. But at that time it was much more challenging so that any mistake or anything you would have to play catch up so you have to, uh– I think Jim saw that I could react quick to those issues that the plant was having and that’s a trait I learned from working in Newark with filtration and with issues where you have less time to react. And you have to come up with also an ingenious way of doing the job. And those are traits I show, or secrets, or kind of traits that I show to my co-workers. We don’t have to wait a full eight hours– [unclear]. Our plant in New Brunswick is one of the most efficient plants we have. We are still moving and improving and we are proud of that. 

So, tell me about John Garden. Was that his name?

John Garden.

G-A-R-D-E-N

Mhmm. 

It just feels so random, like a chance encounter. You were working as a parking attendant in Newark?

Yeah. I was working as a parking attendant in Newark and John Garden was the business administrator of the watershed, and around lunch time he would come down and sit by my booth and chit chat. And there were just a lot of other places around there, Clinton Street, the immigration office was there, the Sheriff Department. At that time the Sheriff was doing security for Prudential so there was a group of men that were coming down at lunch time to the parking lot to chat, talking. A nice group of guys. 

10:07

And John one day he decided to give me an offer because every time he would pass by he would always see me also working. I wasn’t playing or sleeping. I was always trying to do something. Also, I was pretty, I was like the customer service king. I was good with people, taking care of them. For instance, in the winter time I was warming every single car before the, in the winter time I would come down, I would make sure I knew when each of them was scheduled, and fifteen minutes before they would come down I was warming their car. He wasn’t the valet service but I was trying to give them preference, help them beat the traffic rush in the city. I enjoyed what I did and anywhere I went I tried to enjoy and he saw something in me. So, he invited me to the Watershed. 

Can you describe the training you did there?

At the Watershed? Yes. You have to– in order to get your certification you have to attend Introduction to Water and WasteWater. It’s a course. For six months. Two six-month courses, I think, yes. And also once you pass that you have to do the advanced course, which is also six months and once you do that you can sit for your T1 License and once you get your T1 License and once you get that you still have to attend classes for, in order for you to maintain your  license and you have to have training contact hours. The TCH hours. And I have to have thirty-six hours in three years. But when you have the T1, it’s only eighteen so you have to have your contact hours. You have to sit for a lot of courses to maintain your license. You have to do it because even if you have your T1, if you don’t do your contact hours within two years you could lose your license. The state could remove you and then you are going to have to go back and sit for the exam again. And there’s a high failure rate for the water licenses at seventy percent. It is hard for the operator who never had a chance to touch the different assets of the water process like the lab, the distribution, the metering because the questions on the– the all cover the different assets and in a large utility you are only part of that process of what is going on in that part of the plant. You don’t see what is going on in the lab, unless you are willing to go to the lab. 

14:00

I was really fortunate. I was always looking at, I was always looking at learning something new. From the lab I was moving to the distribution system to the city lab where I worked for almost a year. I was always moving because I was always on a course/quest of learning something new. I was acquiring, grabbing a lot of knowledge during those times in different divisions. Even though I was working for a large utility, I acquired a lot of knowledge because I was working with a lot of different people.  And I really enjoyed it. I really enjoyed every single minute of it. 

15:00 

Were you looking for a new job when they interviewed you or did they recruit you?

Is– I left the city of Newark because it was, I was, I was getting to the point where I was having more licenses than my supervisor. And he was new to the city and the ways and I think it was getting a little bit confusing. And I was gaining more knowledge and asking/answering questions that the supervisor couldn’t answer because I was really into what I was doing so my manager was– that’s also why I was being moved so often because I was learning and now I couldn’t learn something new so he took me away from the process. And he thought I was reaching a dead end working in Newark. I was, there was nowhere for me to go anymore, so I left and I went to American Water because– it was a little bit scary leaving the public entity where you have the net and the job safety net, and then when you leave and get an offer to go to a private venture, but I believe and I always have faith that my walk and it will guide me further and still American will [unclear]. I still have some great mentors in the private sector. I still call them when I have some question, need some answer. I still have good contacts with them, public or private. I still serve. I am glad to belong to a group of operators in New Jersey and also I am a member of the NJWA, the New Jersey Water Association. And the support of these really work together and are really devoted to better the system and bettering the water community and training in New Jersey. 

18:03

I’m proud to be part of that group. We answer when we ask each other a question, we share data. We converse when we have some sort of issue and we have data, we share data. We share knowledge and it’s all for the better of our residents. We call an older utility and we can get answers.

Um. Can you describe the process of transitioning from American Water to New Brunswick? Can you describe that? Like how did it happen that way and what did they need from you?

It was a clause on the contract where,  I was under contract where American Water could not hire, uh, a new employee for two years, so that was this person so New Brunswick couldn’t hire another American employee for two years but they– the business administrator and the president of American Water sat and decide to make an amendment to that clause, which was for, just for me,  to allow me to work for New Brunswick because I was more than willing of pursuing the same path. American Water changed and I was going to finish that. Even as a new seeking employee. I was always working and I think we did something. I think we did, even with the struggles, I think we did a good thing and it’s not just me; it’s every single employee. 

So tell me about the water treatment plant just soup to nuts. Like what happens there, what is the path the water takes?

We have two sources. We are glad in New Brunswick to have two source of water. We take water from the D&R Canal, the water comes down from the Delaware River to the tow path which is now a water supply for New Jersey American Water. Middlesex Water in New Brunswick and it’s managed by the New Jersey Water Authority, the water supply authority and the reservoir adds a certain level of clean water, fresh water to those source. We also take water from the West Mill Pond. The water come from East Brunswick and Farrington Dam. The Farrington Dam, I think it was named after– Farrington, yes, I think it’s the Farrington, yes, the Farrington. And the Utility of New Brunswick manage and monitor those dams during the process because we also control the flood levels so– while we are taking from those bodies of water we also have to mitigate during the rain. We monitor the gates so we make sure Milltown does not get flood. Because we still have to monitor the water or the floods will create disaster in the township and Milltown is also the [unclear]– we care about the residents of Milltown and also the residents of Franklin because they also get water from New Brunswick. So we supply water to Milltown, New Brunswick. So, we do supply water to New Brunswick, Milltown, Township, and half of Franklin. They have a supply. The water is poured from the D&R Canal. We have a pour station in Bigelow Park. Far north of Route 18 in Bigelow Park we have a pour station down there. And we also have a pour station in the West and the water is poured from those stations into the water treatment plant in Comstock. And Comstock is the highest point in New Brunswick. And back in the day it used to be the Western Mill Pond and the pond is still pumping water to the basin in Comstock Street. 

25:00

And the water was settled down there near this basin. And was shuttled by workmen to the city and the city of New Brunswick in the early 1900s—I remember from the plate on the wall—in early 1960 we were the first filtration plant and that’s why currently that is where the main office is and the water plant. And we still have old filter down there and the water is processed from the old plant going with the gravity and various chemicals to bond with the dirt of the water to create the removal and leave the clean water by itself. We also take that water and one step we do is after the settling and sediment, we apply, there is a disinfection side where we disinfect the water. We take a strong oxidizer. In New Brunswick we use sodium hypochlorite for disinfectant. So, sodium hypochlorite is your general household bleach with a higher concentration and we apply that to the water. And one quick thing I always love to say is the bacteria and any pathogens are not being destroyed just by applying the bleach. It has to be in contact with the water for a certain amount of time for all those pathogens to be destroyed so we have a main channel where the water flow through and the water stay on that channel at least ninety minutes with the chloride and we measure it. We have an online instrument. We continuously measure that chlorine when it is applied and when the chlorine is leaving. We also have instrument to measure this water leaving and now going into a two-train in the plant. We have a gravity filter that has been with us since the early 1900s and one that has been with us, we’ve had since the 80s. We have a gravity filter and the last time we did a full rehabilitation was 2003.

28:00

In 2015 and ‘16, we added two more filters but we [switched out an old filter with a new style of filter and it has transformed how they work on this project].We are providing a better wash, a better wash schedule, a better training of– on how to wash it so the city did save a lot of money. We did not go ahead with replacing eight filters, we just replaced two filters and the system of the gravity filter are performing. We also, in 2009, the city of New Brunswick invest in the new technology at that time. At that time we were the second largest filtration on the east coast. We had two and half million dollars filtration plant in Comstock. It’s a brand new building and we have been operating those plants for the past ten years now. We are on our second life cycle on our filter cartridge. Everything had been replaced and it came to a really loose cost. We have every filter with about 396 cartridges on them and every filter come close to $1100 a cartridge, single cost, so every time we come close and replace a cell, we come close we do– the process of attaching to the filter is close to a half a million dollars. Cost to the city just to replace it, so since 2014, we were able to stagger the cost, so instead of replacing all of them at once we decide to replace one cell every year and this year is our break year. We replaced all four cells and we don’t have to replace any more cells for one year before we start the cycle again. We created a good cost saving. We are still looking to improve the performance of the membrane. We talk with the director of the utility. We talk with manufacturer. 

31:00

About the membrane and do what they call a pilot study so we can look at how to improve the performance and maximize the investment of the city toward these cartridge(s) and use them to the best. The water coming from those membranes are– is almost like taking water through a piece of fiber and hollow and filter it with, close to, how can I say, household filter. But to a really good side. Because some household filters are really like a gravity filter. This filter is made of fiber and has pores inside at the size of .04 micrometers, so they are really fine, you have to look at that through a microscope in order to see the whole, to see those pores and the quality leaving the plant. So, they visited the water and we purchased this twelve million dollar– we purchased to– that membrane filtration that will equal or supersede any bottle of water or any gravity filter or any water plant from any public or private in the market. The next level to that is reverse osmosis. 

32:58

And which we can only have on plant day because you see water, you see it to pull the salt and those minerals out of the water. So, we have– we are quite glad to say that we are one, we are already great, we have already great water quality within the water treatment plant in New Brunswick. Quality wise. And for the past three years we’ve been doing a fluridone treatment in the D&R Canal. It is a herbicide they use to treat, to kill hydrilla. Hydrilla is a species on the fish tank, like plant, and it can shock, stop the canal flow. It was determined by the water authority that they have it in the canal. And it started to shock the floor of the canal because the only way to remove that species, because it is an invasive species it can lay down– the tubers can lay down in the mud for ten years. Find the right moment and right approach and bloom. So, it’s really hard to remove them and get them out of the canal and the water authority decided to treat them for the fluridone was being tested–

35:00

With them being used, and so far New Brunswick is doing a great removal of the fluridone. We have, in the first year of the treatment, the administration invested in a carbon  feeder, multiple carbon feeder. They pay– close to one hundred thousand because it was ninety six thousand and some change. For the feeder, and don’t forget it was feeding a carbon bag. Almost every day and this cost was absorbing the quality of the water. We are treating for the fluridone only in the summer time. But since the addition of the carbon we have noticed a great change of the quality of the water. With a decent odor because carbon has that ability to absorbing any quality or bad taste and odor of the water.  We put that this year, we start feeding. We was feeding sporadically last year, but this year we fully implemented and we are feeding carbon all year long so it is one of the other improvements we are doing to the water quality. It is another great thing we are doing to the water quality by adding another great chemical to the process to produce great quality water, test for quality water, and I think we have gotten less complaints and that is something we are really proud of. Because we know we are using the water, we have friends and family in the town and we want them to have the best quality water. We do our best to always provide them that. 

37:10

Have you ever encountered a problem? Any issues?

When we start at the plant, how can I say? We were slipping on– there was always some issue. But all the change in process and training I’m getting the operator to better learn the system, understand the system, allow them to troubleshooting and also allow them to freedom. I think the great quality of a leader is to lead from beyond, behind and allow those guys to think for themselves. You’re watching them, you’re still guiding them, but you want them to be able to troubleshoot, analyze, and make the decision, and so far we have done a great job with our operators. They– they make us proud because they are able to troubleshoot with– they really give thought to– they are not just a pusher, they also go and troubleshoot. We give them tools. They have a screwdriver, if equipment breaks. Before they couldn’t make a mistake, they should at least try. They have to understand every single piece of equipment. And by the training and the confidence and also with the schooling, we try to get them knowledge and try to create another great generation of operators. In New Brunswick and also for the whole New Jersey. 

39:00

Is there anything you want to make sure that is catered to this interview?

I would love the residents to have great faith in the water utility because we try, every single guy at the plant. First, we are really proud of working for the utility and we love what we doing. And we are here to serve them. We are here to help them. We do a lot of community outreach, we do a lot of– we would love to have more tools, we would love to go to more schools. And educate more kids about the need of conservation of water, and water is one of our great resources but we need to conserve it because it– it’s only one percent of all that water we have around is fresh water. And it’s getting costly to treat the water. It’s getting costly to be able to have great quality water, so if you learn how to conserve water, or a parent or family will save water, it’s also less cost for them to purchase the water. So, we would love to put our message across to our residents. 

40:45

When you brush your teeth, just turn the faucet off, when you take a shower use a water saving device or timer on the faucet. And be more cautious about and not take it for granted. We will always need it. Water is life. Water is life. We are always going to need water, so let’s take care of it. Take care of the stream. Like the little one running through New Brunswick. You see guys down there with their tires or dumping. A body of water, you should preserve it, take care of it. Because it– it does not reflect– it is not dumping on the D&R Canal, but kind of in a flooding zone and when you have heavy rain some of that gets to the canal and we can see it through the treatment process. Because we have all this equipment and we continue training and collect all this data of the water, we can see the increase of the– after a big rainfall or a huge leak in the system will make its way and we will see that in the system. And that water is getting through. So, the stream, if we take care of it, it’s a life circle and we have to take care of the stream. And when you wash your car in the driveways and stuff like that, it goes to the sewer where the city authority have to pay a lot of money to sort that. It is costly. We work day and night. We work on the website to put some conservation information out there. To the New Brunswick water page on the website so that we can convey that message to our residents. 

Thank you so much for your time today. 

You’re welcome.

We really appreciate it.

Thank you. 

43.27

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