Many residents across Boynton Beach have time off for the holidays. The water plant operator and water professionals will still be working at Christmas time, said Wayne Segal, city spokesman.
Segal said few people realize the job of producing drinking water goes on 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
Melvin Pinkney, chief operator from the East Water Plant, said since he is on the front lines of public health, it makes it worthwhile to do his job during the holidays.
Pinkney is just one member of the Boynton Beach Utility staff of water professionals working to keep water flowing through the hundreds of miles of water lines across the community.
Kofi Boateng, the city's utilities director, said he is proud of the people who take time off from their families to do their job.
Segal said along with staff working at the treatment plant, there are other Boynton Beach Utility personnel who are on-call during the holidays to respond at a moment’s notice to emergencies such as large water line breaks and service outages.

Mike Rothman can be reached at mkrothman@tribune.com.