As the number of vehicles running across the streets of Ontario increases, the level of pollutants in the air increases as well. It has been observed in the Greater Toronto Area that a significant portion of air pollutants come from road dust. With this observation comes the realization that conservation of resources not only happens during recycling and reusing but in pollution prevention as well.
There are a lot of pollution prevention methods being enforced in GTA. And among them is the street flushing and sweeping sanitation task, which forms part of the Clean Roads to Clean Air Initiative. As the main and arterial roads are cleaned, it has been observed that the quality of air has improved as well.
Street flushing and brushing is usually most visible during spring. For every city in Ontario, spring time cleaning is a need. As spring comes and snow melts, a pile of winter sand and dirt is revealed. Removing debris which have accumulated on the streets during the winter has been often viewed as an aesthetic cleanup practice.
But aside from sand and dirt, street clean-up practices have been proven to reduce the amount of particulate matter or PM content in the air. One of the types of toxic pollutants is PM10 or particulate matter at 10 micrometers. This type largely comes from vehicle fuel combustion, wastes, construction dust and fuel spills.
The filters in our nose are incapable of trapping PM10, so when they are present in air, they are naturally inhaled. In Ontario, 70% of fatal health cases have been traced back to severe PM10 exposure.
Incidentally, street flushing and brushing improves stormwater quality. A large portion of stormwater and rain water runoff pollutants have been determined to come from street litter. And if these pollutants are not cleaned from storm basins, they end up in receiving bodies of water where they cause another degree of pollution. In addition, street cleaning reduces the cost of filtering storm and rain water catch basins.
Considerations in Street Flushing and Cleaning
Street flushing will not actually work without taking into account several considerations which makes it an effective pollution prevention task. The first consideration is that new technologies have to be used.
The latest street cleaning vehicles have an increased particulate matter and debris suction capacity which uses minimal amount of water and fuel. One of the downside to using these vehicles is that they have double engines. However, manufacturers have continuous R&D to produce machines that have high environmental performance; not just high air quality improvement performance.
The second consideration to using street flushing and brushing is frequency. This sanitation program will only be effective if it is frequently so that no high road dust accumulation happens. Frequency will have to be determined according to the location of the street. City streets will have to be cleaned often than residential streets.
The last consideration that street flushing programs should take in account is vehicle parking regulation. Street cleaning vehicles have difficulty maneuvering around parked cars so streets have to free of any vehicles during scheduled cleanups.
It has already been proven that street flushing and cleaning plays and important role in improving air quality and preventing pollution. However, imposing such a cleanup program requires taking into account several considerations so it can be more effective.
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