Street sweeping is a simple, effective, and affordable way to remove trash, leaf litter, and toxic pollutants from urban streets and parking lots. The modern street sweeper uses brushes and vacuum suction to clean paved surfaces.
As a tool for best stormwater management practices, effective street sweeping plays a crucial role in controlling the flow of rainwater, preventing local flooding, and reducing pollutant loading into waterways. Street sweeping removes pollutants before they enter the storm drain system and clog catch basins and inlets, extending the life of green infrastructure and nature-based solutions and reducing maintenance costs. Street sweeping provides a simple, effective, and affordable solution to mitigate the impacts of urbanization on local water quality and prevent local flooding.
Most urban areas sweep their streets, often as an aesthetic practice to remove trash, built-up sediment and large debris from curb gutters and increasingly as a water quality practice to reduce stormwater pollutant loadings. Effective street sweeping programs can remove several tons of debris a year from city streets minimizing pollutants in stormwater. In colder climates, street sweeping during the spring snowmelt can reduce pollutants in stormwater from deicing materials, sand and grit.
So, the next time you see a street sweeper on your block, take a moment to appreciate this unsung hero in the battle against stormwater flooding and pollution.
For more information about street sweeping and stormwater best management practices, see this flyer from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
This article was produced in association with the City of Tiffin, Ohio, Storm Water Management Program