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The Latest News From
The World of Power Sweeping
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PAVEMENT Hall of Fame Honors Editor (and Industry)
by Ranger Kidwell-Ross, editor
WorldSweeper.com
I'll admit that being named the first person from the power sweeping industry to be inducted into the PAVEMENT Maintenance Hall of Fame is something I'm genuinely honored by. But more than the recognition itself, this moment gives me an opportunity to share – yet another time – the message that has driven everything I've done for the past three-plus decades. It started with a realization that seemed obvious to me but that almost nobody in the industry, or in public works, or in environmental agencies, was talking about: power sweeping is the first line of defense for protecting water quality.
When I came to understand that pavement-based pollutant runoff was a serious and growing threat to our water supplies, and that sweeping was the most cost-effective way to stop those pollutants before they ever reached a waterway, I knew that was the work I wanted to do. Not just sweeping itself, but teaching people why sweeping mattered in a way that went far beyond clean curb lines and tidy parking lots.
What struck me – and frankly frustrated me – was how little awareness existed in the public works and stormwater world. The people responsible for streets and stormwater infrastructure largely did not understand what sweeping could do for water quality. That gap is what motivated me to launch American Sweeper magazine in the early 1990s. I wanted to get that message out to contractors, yes, but also to municipal decision-makers, stormwater professionals, and environmental agencies – anyone with the ability to act on it.
As time went on, I transitioned American Sweeper into WorldSweeper.com, which has now been active for more than two decades and has grown into the most comprehensive power sweeping knowledge base in the world. Eventually that led to founding the World Sweeping Association, which for over a dozen years has delivered consistent, research-based education to the contract sweeper industry – because educated contractors and informed municipalities make better decisions for everyone, including the environment.
The science has borne this out in ways that I'll admit were validating to see. Studies in Florida and Minnesota found that sweeping was three-to-five times more cost-effective per pound at removing nitrogen and phosphorus from roadway runoff than any other pavement pollutant removal method. That is not a marginal advantage. And yet sweeping still doesn't get the credit it deserves, either within the pavement maintenance industry or in the broader environmental conversation.
That remains the unfinished work. We still don't have a unified industry voice. Public works directors and stormwater managers still too often treat sweeping as an afterthought rather than a front-line environmental tool. The message still needs to be carried forward – to municipalities, to state and federal environmental agencies, to anyone who controls how infrastructure dollars get spent.
So while I'm deeply grateful for this Hall of Fame recognition, what I hope people take from it is not really about me. It's about the message. Pavement sweeping is the first line of defense for water quality. That was true when I started saying it in the early 1990s, it's proven by independent research today, and it will still be true long after I've stepped back from the day-to-day. If this honor helps more people hear that message and act on it, then it means more to me than any award could on its own. If you want to see the two-page article that was done for the honor, click here.
As always, if you have questions and/or any news of potential interest to the power sweeping community, please let us know. Between this publication, the WorldSweeper.com website, and the World Sweeping Association, we'll be sure to get the information passed along to interested readers.
Good Sweeping,
Editor, WorldSweeper.com
Executive Director, World Sweeping Association
Member, PAVEMENT Hall of Fame
PS If you're a contractor I urge you to check out the many benefits of membership in the World Sweeping Association. Also, if you haven't 'liked' our WorldSweeper Facebook page, what are you waiting for? That's where we offer a variety of industry previews and updates on an ongoing basis.
For our March/April stories click on links below.
- Introducing Dr. Andrew Sheerin and His Better Sweeping Practices
- Street Sweeping: Maximizing Results When Funding Shrinks
- Power Sweepers and TMDL Compliance: A Practical Path to Cleaner Water
- Determining Water Quality Differences Between Swept and Unswept Street Segments
- Help Us Save Our Water Quality
- April 1st Posting: John Deere Enters Street Sweeping with Autonomous Tractor-Mounted System
- Participate in National Work Zone Safety Week and Distracted Driving Awareness Month
Introducing Dr. Andrew Sheerin and His Better Sweeping Practices
This meeting was a discussion between Andrew Sheerin, a PhD and founder of Fathom Solutions, and Ranger Kidwell-Ross, editor of WorldSweeper.com. In it, Andrew explained his background in developing the SWPT (Stormwater Pollution Tracker) software, which uses data-driven modeling to optimize street sweeping operations by determining optimal timing and prioritization of routes based on rain forecasts and GIS data layers. His SWPT software may well revolutionize street sweeper scheduling given its prediction ability about when to sweep to achieve best results for pollution removal.
The two also discussed the environmental benefits of enhanced street sweeping, particularly its 3-to-5 times greater cost-effectiveness compared to other stormwater management solutions, as well as the potential for crediting frameworks in cities to recognize and reward effective sweeping programs. Andrew has also agreed to be a leader in the advancement of the WorldSweeper website via the development of 'WorldSweeper 2.0.' This process will occur by standardizing and assimilating existing data into an AI-based large language model.
Click here to see all of the info.
Street Sweeping: Maximizing Results When Funding Shrinks
In April of 2026, Wastewater Digest wrote an article entitled "Significant reductions proposed for EPA and State Revolving Funds in FY27."
If that occurs, the article should be read as a warning shot for the stormwater world, not as proof that street sweeping is less important. Rather, if EPA and State Revolving Fund support is reduced, the sweeping industry should position street sweeping as one of the few BMPs that can still deliver measurable pollutant removal at very low cost per pound, especially when compared with structural controls.
Read the article for more complete information
Power Sweepers and TMDL Compliance: A Practical Path to Cleaner Water
As municipalities across the country confront tighter stormwater expectations, Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL, compliance has become a central concern for public works and stormwater managers. In that environment, power sweepers are emerging as one of the most practical tools available for reducing pollutant loads before they ever reach waterways.
Check out the details.
Determining Water Quality Differences Between Swept and Unswept Street Segments
Elizabeth Fassman-Beck, Engineering Dept. Head of Southern California Coastal Water Research Project (SCCWRP), is spearheading a current effort aimed at directly quantifying the water quality differences between swept and unswept street segments – they're doing empirical testing at field scale.
SCCWRP has been tasked by its member agencies to quantify if there is a measurable difference in water quality as a result of street sweeping, in order to support assumptions on pollutant load reductions in their NPDES MS4 permits.
Here is more information
Help Us Save Our Water Quality
We are making wholesale changes to bring the WorldSweeper and World Sweeping Association websites into what we are calling "WorldSweeper 2.0." To assist in this process we are asking interested contractors and stormwater and public works professionals to be part of the process.
What we have in mind is hosting some Zoom meetings designed to find out what YOU would like to see when it comes to information about parking lot and street sweeping to help us best tailor the new site(s). If you might be interested, please let us know.
John Deere Enters Street Sweeping with Autonomous Tractor-Mounted System
On April 1st, WorldSweeper announced that John Deere is entering the municipal street sweeping market with the 8R SweepReadyTM, a plug-and-play sweeping attachment for its 8R Series row-crop tractors that brings Precision Ag technology to parking lots and city streets for the first time.
The system, developed in partnership with a major European sweeper OEM whose name remains under NDA until Q3 2026, converts any 2023-or-newer 8R, 8RT, or 8RX tractor into a fully autonomous sweeping platform in under four hours using factory-approved mounting points and hydraulic quick-couplers.
Here is where you can review the April 1st info. Be sure to check the link at the bottom of the page that offers more info!
In a related story posted the same day, Mad River Union posted the modification it had done on an Elgin sweeper, turning it into a platform for socializing and dining.
The Arcate newspaper reported that that the city's new Elgin Street Sweeper had been modified by the vehicle skunk works at the city yard to include an on-board nature trail and native plant emporium, plus relevant interpretive signs and historical displays. A compact but full-featured rooftop barista bar provides space for pre-stroll hydration and conversation. According to the newspaper article, newly relocated cab allows the sweeper operator to more closely commune with driveway compost buckets along the way.
National Work Zone Safety Week and Distracted Driving Awareness Month
April 20-24th is National Work Zone Awareness Week. If you'd like to participate and/or provide information to your workforce, this link provides a host of resources.
April is also Distracted Driving Awareness Month, but for fleets, distraction isn’t seasonal. It’s one of the leading causes of preventable collisions, rising costs, and driver risk every day.
Distracted Driving Awareness Month is a great opportunity for your fleet to look at how the entire team – from executives to managers to drivers – can prevent distracted driving and make the roads safer for everyone.
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