For Roadway Sweeping
Seminars Sponsored by
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Through Sweeping Program Maximization by Ranger Kidwell-Ross The sad fact is that power sweeping is not given the value it deserves as a Best Management Practice (BMP) in reducing the pollution contained in storm water runoff. The goal of the WorldSweeper.com Seminar Series is to provide information designed to change that situation. The seminars, held on May 5th in Orange County and on May 8th in San Jose, are full of information designed to show those in charge of sweeping programs how they can improve the way they sweep. (If you are reading this prior to the seminar dates, click here to reach our signup form.) Sweeping program designers in areas with pollution runoff issues must stop thinking of sweeping as strictly a cosmetic practice. Instead, they need to learn about the relatively inexpensive role sweeping has in removing pollutants from the runoff stream. In the urban environment, street cleaning has the broadest potential impact on urban stormwater pollution reduction because two thirds of all of the rain that falls on potentially impervious surfaces in the urban landscape is falling on pavement. In the past 5 years, many new street cleaners have entered the market that are much more efficient at picking up accumulated contaminants, especially when compared to the older mechanical broom sweepers owned by most communities today. 
As an example, a study of structural BMPs by Caltrans indicates the cost per pound of pollutant removed (as Total Suspended Solids, or TSS) of $10 to $60, not including land costs. In contrast, our industry studies indicate new mechanical brush sweepers reduce TSS in stormwater at a cost of $5 to $10 per pound, and regenerative air and vacuum-assisted sweepers, at a cost of $2 to $5 per pound. Yet, many jurisdictions that are now imposing storm water runoff taxes and spending high dollars in an attempt to reduce their runoff pollution have, at the same time, cut back on their sweeping efforts. The only reason for this is lack of knowledge of the impact sweeping can have at a much lower relative cost. Sweeping program designers in areas with pollution runoff issues must stop thinking of sweeping as strictly a cosmetic practice. Instead, they need to learn about the relatively inexpensive role sweeping has in removing pollutants from the runoff stream. The WorldSweeper.com targeted educational workshops include: • The lastest national and international developments in pavement cleaning equipment.• Presentation on where the pollutants come from, what are their characteristics on the street, washoff, etc., including recent testing of pickup performance and its effect on reducing nonpoint pollution reduction and water quality improvement. • Information on how to estimate your loading reduction, from a simple first-cut estimate that the local jurisdiction can do to the more exacting estimates made from washoff modeling that usually require a consultant. • Presentation on how to develop an effective pavement cleaning program from the perspective of nonpoint source pollution control.
Some of the items covered in the WorldSweeper.com Seminars are: • Why the 1982 Nationwide Urban Runoff Program (NURP) conclusions regarding the ineffective nature of street sweeping were flawed and why this matters now. • Why pavement cleaning is the most cost-effective BMP based on dollars per pound of pollutant removed from the stormwater. • Why a street sweeping program using any new sweeper will lower a local jurisdictions' costs of both catchbasin and storm line cleaning. • Why a street sweeping program using any new sweeper is much more cost-effective in removing pollutants from stormwater than end-of-the-pipe controls and why this matters. • Why several of the street sweeping studies conducted since the NURP were flawed and how this has led to poor estimates of sweeping's pollutant removal effectiveness. • Why intensive street sweeping using new sweepers of any type will be a highly desirable BMP for upcoming TMDL compliance throughout California. • Why sediment pick-up efficiencies of new mechanical sweepers are very competitive with those of both new regenerative and vacuum sweepers and why this matters. • Why sediment pick-up efficiencies of new street cleaners are much higher than those for used machines and why this matters. • Why most stormwater quality data collected since the NPDES MS4 program begun in the early 1990s is flawed and how this has led to poor estimates of sweeping's pollutant removal effectiveness. • What street sweeping studies are currently underway throughout the country, how their conclusions will likely differ from previous studies, and why this matters. • What street sweeping studies Pacific Water Resources has conducted and why their results have shown much greater stormwater pollutant reductions from sweeping and why this matters. At the seminars, participants learn: • How to roughly estimate the stormwater pollutant loadings from California urban land uses. • How to roughly estimate the stormwater pollutant reductions associated with both existing and improved sweeping programs. • How to roughly estimate the relationship between sweeping frequency and stormwater pollutant reductions. • How to conduct sediment pick-up performance tests for street cleaners and why this matters.
• How a PWR-led street sweeping study could develop an area-specific relationship of sweeping costs to TMDL pollutant reductions and why this matters.
Presenters are two of the top power sweeping experts in the U.S.
If you have questions, please send us an email or call 360-724-7355, after 9am, Pacific. |
Roger Sutherland, P.E., president of 
Ranger Kidwell-Ross, M.A., editor of WorldSweeper.com. Kidwell-Ross was founder and, for a decade, editor of the now discontinued American Sweeper magazine. In 2005, he founded
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