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Street and parking lot sweeping received another boost as an effective pollution-control effort following a one-year study conducted by Seattle Public Utilities (SPU).

"We had very high expectations and the 'big picture' message is street sweeping exceeded our expectations for pollution removal and cost effectiveness," says Terry Martin, acting division director for asset management of SPU.

Results of the 2006-2007 study were published in April, and among the recommendations was that Seattle "begin pursuing an expanded street sweeping program to reduce the amount of pollutants discharged to area-receiving water bodies from city streets... Data collected for this study clearly show that sweeping each side of the street every other week is very effective in reducing the amount of sediment and associated pollutants discharged from city streets."

Martin says the city does have plans for increased street sweeping but has been hampered by the tough economy which has resulted in fewer tax dollars flowing to the city.

"We're still planning what the future roll-out will look like, but once we get the money we plan on really expanding street sweeping," Martin says. "We will likely test some different ideas, such as frequency of sweeping, to see the impact, but the plan is to increase sweeping."