By the numbers, the amount of street waste in Destin is staggering. Since the beginning of the year, the City of
Surprisingly however, the city is not upset with these numbers, but in contrast are pleased. The reason being? Cleaner streets mean cleaner waterways.
“The majority of what we get is really sand that comes off the roadways,” said City Public Services Deputy Director Tim Pietenpol. “Now we are able to keep the swales clear in order to move storm water through. It keeps fuels and oils out of our water, and keeps our waterways much cleaner. Environmentally it’s a much cleaner system.”
Pietenpol told The Log that previously, sand would clog up in-ground storm water systems causing flooding to homes and properties.
“That’s why we concentrate mostly on the areas with in-ground drains and storm pipes,” said Pietenpol. “Areas subdivision-
These areas, Pietenpol dubbed high priority areas saying the city focuses strongly on those streets more prone to flooding.
“We still canvas the entire city, but don’t concentrate as much as the areas where the pipes could fill up with sand and debris and block the flow of storm water,” he said. “We are still evaluating some of the areas we need to concentrate on.”
Even though the street sweeper vehicle is only in it’s second year of use, Pietenpol said he has already seen major improvement.
“In the past, the only way we had to remove dirt from the roadway was with blowers,” he said. “The street sweeper has really given us the opportunity to keep our streets clean and keep the debris out of our storm water systems. The good news is that we are keeping that out of our systems and our environment in general.”