Breathing, which is a vital function of the body, is automatic. A person does not put any conscious effort into breathing; it just continues on and on. Unless a person really thinks about it, he or she will go about with his or her daily activities without even knowing that oxygen is continually inhaled into the body. This may have been a perfect function and life may have been sustained longer; however, toxic substances have been introduced into the air due to man's neglect. A call for air preservation has become the battle cry of many green activists.
Clean Air Hamilton, an environmental group in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) in the Ontario province, is dedicated in improving air quality in the community. Composed of people from all walks of life, from the government, academe, and industry down to the residential populace, they initiate research on air quality and offer policies for the local government. Clean Air Hamilton has identified fugitive dusts as significant sources of airborne particulate matter in the community. Fugitive dusts are any solid particulate matter that is airborne other than the emissions from an exhaust. Airborne particulate matter is made up of many substances suspended in the air as particles. Particles less than ten micrometers pose the greatest health threat because they easily pass through the nose down to the lungs. Dust control is therefore advocated placing an important responsibility to all industries.
Regular road flushing and sweeping can reduce the amount of dusts. Major roads are primary target sites for road flushing because of the high average number of vehicles that travel on them everyday. A high average daily trip means that there is increased wear and tear of the pavement. Also, these roads are more exposed to oil leaks, and traces of worn out tires. All of these contribute to the accumulation of road dusts. Road flushing and sweeping of major arterial and collector roads are done at an average of five times in a month due to their higher dust load. Road flushing is initially done to loosen the debris before the sweeper passes. Tandem sweeping, wherein a mechanical sweeper is immediately followed by a vacuum assisted sweeper, is currently utilized due to its higher effectiveness in collecting road dusts. Basically, the mechanical sweeper has a broom that rotates to sweep the road surface and a conveyor belt which transports collected debris to the hopper.
During the 80's, road flushing and sweeping were scrutinized because based from numerous studies, they were not effective in reducing the toxic load found in urban runoff. This conclusion was based on the fact that street sweepers were only able to pick up litter and large particles; sweepers were not able to collect fine sediments which are known to be highly toxic constituents of urban runoff. Currently, flushing and sweeping technologies have been very promising. Tandem operations show better pick-up performance. Vacuum assisted sweepers and regenerative air sweepers are able to pick up fine particulate matter as small as ten micrometers.
Road flushing and sweeping is beneficial for cleaning up accumulated debris on major roads, preventing floods due to clogged sewers, providing a safe and clean driving surface and ensuring better air quality.
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