ForConstructionPros.com

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."

"The Street Sweeping Pilot Study provided valuable data for understanding the effect of sweeping streets every two weeks with a regenerative air sweeper on the amount and characteristics of dirt present on the streets, sediment accumulation in catch basins, and materials removed by the Sweeper," the report notes. "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."

Study details are reported in the "Impact Sweeping" article published in the October/November issue of Pavement Maintenance & Reconstruction.