MINNEAPOLIS -- There's nothing like a spring cleaning, especially on our roadways. "This time of year we're really concerned about a heavy rain where lots of water hits that pavement and it hits the pipes." Explains Doug Snyder, director of the Mississippi watershed management organization.
The reason they're concerned about the rains after all the snow is gone is because of what that rain will wash off the streets.
"All winter long we're putting sand, salt, some people are littering, some people are actually dumping ash trays out of their car on ramps and that sits on the road."
And while they help make our roads less slippery in the winter they can cause problems later on.
"For the most part, once it hits that drain in your street, it's going to be in the river. Once it's in the river we can't clean it out. Particularly important are lakes and ponds because they will accumulate those pollutants for a longer period of time."
The Mississippi watershed management organization works with cities to help be proactive in cleaning well, and cleaning early.
"once it's on the road we really support street sweeping to get out there early in the spring so it doesn't hit the pipe."
One community that gets high marks is St. Anthony village.
Jay Hartman is the director of St. Anthony village public works and explains their plans: "the goal is to right away before rain, and the spring thaw we want to get it off the road. What we put down in the wintertime we want to get off in the spring. Our first focus in sweeping in the spring is to get to any area that contributes to the watershed. A clean city means clean water. It's that simple."
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