{"id":311373,"date":"2026-08-01T06:00:25","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T06:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/311373\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T06:00:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T06:00:25","slug":"mystery-dep-truck-spotted-across-staten-island-heres-what-it-really-does","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/311373\/","title":{"rendered":"Mystery DEP truck spotted across Staten Island. Here\u2019s what it really does."},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Residents of Oakwood woke up to the sight of a strange new DEP vehicle last month. Ever since, a growing number people have reported sightings of the \u201cmystery truck\u201d from across Staten Island. <\/p>\n

To solve the case, an Advance\/SILive.com reporter reached out to a DEP spokesperson for information.<\/p>\n

According to the representative, the vehicle is a high-pressure jet rodder truck, more commonly known as a \u201cflusher truck.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a specialized sewer maintenance vehicle equipped with a powerful water-jetting system,\u201d said the spokesperson. \u201c[The truck is] designed to clean sewer lines, storm drains and other underground infrastructure.\u201d <\/p>\n

The representative also informed us that the truck supports both routine maintenance and emergency response situations to keep the Island\u2019s water cache flowing optimally.<\/p>\n

MORE BY LAWRENCE RAGONESE<\/p>\n

\"BackViewed from the back, the sophisticated water jetting system can be seen.Advance\/SILive.com | Ken Paulsen<\/p>\n

The DEP purchased eight of the trucks, each valued at about $411,000, and has another 15 scheduled for delivery within the next 18 months, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

The vehicle pictured above is specifically assigned to Staten Island, with the others dispatched to maintenance yards across New York City, the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Residents of Oakwood woke up to the sight of a strange new DEP vehicle…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":311374,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,117790,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-311373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-powell-butte-tick-flagging","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=311373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/311373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/311374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=311373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=311373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=311373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}