Bennie Kermmoade | Wastewater treatment plant operator | Salary: $46,438

“Most people don’t even wanna' think about it once they flush,” Kermmoade says.

But he has to think about what goes down Lincoln toilets west of 44th Street and Leighton Avenue each night when he goes to work at the city’s wastewater treatment plant.

When he started working at the plant in the late 1970s, he was sick for about two weeks straight. “The smell just turned my stomach.”

One of the first things you learn in a wastewater treatment job is that it’s imperative that you wash your hands. A lot.

It’s also important to be careful when you’re working on pumps so as not to get splashed in the face with sewage. “(If) you get sprayed in the face — you try to keep your mouth shut most of the time; keep your eyes and mouth shut.”

And while the Theresa Street treatment plant has done a lot to cut down on odors since the 1970s, Kermmoade’s clothes still have to be washed separately from his wife’s and daughter’s.

He works midnight to 8 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday, monitoring the plant to make sure everything’s working right while Lincoln sleeps.

What could happen when things go wrong? Sewage could back up into basements, for one thing.

Turnover at the plant was a huge problem back in the 1970s and 1980s, Kermmoade says. Guys would report for their first day of work and be gone the next. He remembers one stretch where one of four new hires was gone by his next shift, and three followed soon afterward.

Not everybody can stand the stench. Kermmoade left the plant, became a preacher for a couple of years, and then returned.

“I have less stress now than I ever did as a preacher,” he explains.

Improved working conditions and good pay and benefits have helped keep employees around  longer these days. The retirement package is the best Kermmoade has  seen.

He said most operators have 15 years of experience, and about four have more than 20.

“I make a good wage,” he said. “As a whole I’m very pleased with it.”

He said when he talks to treatment plant operators from other similar-sized cities, he finds he often earns more than they do. His only complaint is that some industries pay up to a dollar more an hour for working an “off shift” like his. He gets an extra 35 cents per hour.

What has kept  him coming back to such a thankless, smelly job for 22 years?

“I always like to help and serve people,” Kermmoade said. “Without us, people would be in a lot worse hurt.”