Cleaning Up Mother Nature

(ABC 6 NEWS) - After a long winter, crews are heading out to clean up a big mess of leftover sand and salt.

But there's more to it than simply sprucing up the town.

Not too long ago, snowplows were rushing around.

Now the scene is much different, the snow is melting and it's creating a whole new kind of rush for road crews.

"It’s going to be busy. With the winter we had and everything there's a lot of sand out there, we threw it out there and now it's time to start picking it up," said

Rochester Public Works and MnDOT street sweepers are beginning the spring cleanup.

"The process starts once spring time hits. It’s tough to do when it’s freezing out, but when we’re pretty confident that most of the weather, the bad weather, the snowstorms are over," said MnDOT’s Jessica Wiens.

And crews know there's a lot of work ahead of them.

"It should be worse than normal because we put out more sand than normal," said Public Works Maintenance Manager Joe Fitzpatrick.

There’s 600 to 700 tons more in Rochester alone.

And as temperatures continue to rise, there's a big push to get it off the streets quickly.

"Hopefully we can get to it before it washes away," Fitzpatrick said.    

Sand and salt going down the drain is exactly what public work's Allison Plute is concerned about.

"When water hits our concrete surfaces and goes into the storm drains those lead eventually to our lakes and rivers," Plute said.

She knows road material mixed with river water is a recipe for disaster.

"It actually increases the water temperature. There's a lot of aquatic life that depends on certain temperature ranges so that if it gets too hot they won't be able to survive," Plute said.

That’s why sweeping crews are out in full force and they'll continue to work until the job is done.

If you'd like to help out, public works says you can simply get your own broom and sweep up any excess sand along your sidewalks and driveways.