Street sweeping as a water pollution control measure: Lessons learned over the past ten years

Abstract

Street surfaces are both sources of urban runoff pollutants and pathways for the transport of pollutants originating from adjacent land areas. This view has led to the suggestion that street sweeping may be a valuable best management practice (BMP) for the control of urban runoff quality. Initial investigtions beginning in the early 1970's indicated that changes in street sweeping practices could be beneficial in reducing urban runoff pollution. In response to this early research, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sponsored Nationwide Urban Runoff Program adopted a broad-based assessment of street sweeping as one of its central research elements. The key finding of street sweeping research to date is that as a general, broad-based water quality best management practice it does not appear to be effective in reducing end-of-pipe urban runoff pollution loads. Under favorable conditions, reduction of about 30 percent can be expected, but more typical performance is in the 10 to 30 percent range. For certain constituents such as lead, where street surfaces are the overwhelming sources, street sweeping can control well of 50 percent of the loads. There are other specific condition where street sweeping can be effective.