protested water system breakdowns at the Pembroke Dump pulverisation plant.

Nearly 80 Works and Engineering staff stopped work while managers scrambled to restore water service to the smelly Marsh Folly plant.

Union spokesman Mr. Vincent Tuzo said workers downed tools because the water breakdowns left them without means to clean the plant or their trucks. Staff toilets had also run dry and there was no running water to clean themselves.

"We're getting no help to keep this job a little more tolerable, a little more clean,'' he said.

"With no water to clean the platform, it's dirty and smelly. Even the toilets are not flushing. I had to go to the union this morning to use the bathroom.'' Mr. Tuzo made the remarks as workers sat in the shade of the plant off Marsh Folly Road. Their uncleaned collection trucks were parked nearby.

As a member of the plant's safety and health committee, Mr. Tuzo said he had asked management more than once to fix and then replace a leaky water tank supplying the yard. Last week it flooded the area.

Mr. Tuzo said workers were led to believe it would be fixed on the weekend.

But when they turned up for work yesterday, there was no water. Garbage trucks had not been cleaned and work areas were dry.

Mr. Tuzo said water was critical for making the plant less dirty. "Water help keeps the smell down,'' he said in a room at the bottom of the plant where crushed garbage falls.

"We use tons of water. But working in dirt like this and breathing the germs is ridiculous.'' A few hours after the workers took their action, Works managers had bypassed the faulty tank and hooked up water lines to a back-up tank.

"They'll get water for flushing and drinking and washing down,'' said Mr.

Shirley Harney, who is in charge of maintenance support at the Works and Engineering Prospect depot.

"The one thing they won't be able to do until later is wash the yard down.

There's not enough pressure right now. By the end of today, they'll have all the water they want.'' Mr. Tuzo also said management had received petitions from the workers.

He said the plant manager had told him he had contacted managers at Prospect about the problem. But Mr. Harney said he didn't know of any problems.

Shortly before 11 a.m. -- less than four hours after the worker action began -- the garbage trucks moved out to their pick-up routes.

"Everybody wants to work,'' worker Mr. William Davis said. "It's just a matter of getting these trucks washed out. It's a problem that could have been solved on the weekend.

"It's just a lack of communication. All they had to do was put the new tank in.'' CLEAN-UP -- Garbageman Mr. Michael Robinson washes a truck using emergency water supplies yesterday.