Major U.S. East Coast cities have been smashed with feet of snow recently,and with bitterly cold temperatures preventing any widespread melting, wheredoes all that road-blocking snow go?It's important to remember that it's not the actual snow that is the problem,but what's in the snow that has become a pollution nightmare in recentyears.
Snow in Maryland this weekend courtesy of AccuWeather.comFacebook Fan James. Snow is not legally allowed to be dumped in rivers, lakes, ponds or any otherbody of water. Most municipalities outlawed this practice during theenvironmental movement of the late 1980s.If snow is disposed of in fresh water, these bodies can be polluted with roadsalt and other harsh snow removal chemicals. These chemicals have proven to beextremely toxic to any fish and aquatics life residing in waters.
Even sand, which seems to be a positive alternative to chemicals, is dangerousif dumped along with snow into fresh water. Sand washed into waterways has thepotential to gather into sand bars, or even fill existing wetlands andponds.
Drinking water supplies can be impacted by contamination resulting from toxicsnow-removal chemicals.
Snow dumped into water bodies can also cause ice dams, which could lead tomajor flooding if left to build.
While it may seem like a good idea to dispose of snow into storm drains, thisis very dangerous because snow-melt sediment can block drains, contributing tolocalized flooding.
However, depending on the city, excessive snow can be hauled away to designatedareas, including parking lots and fields. These areas must be at least 50 feetaway from any water bodies to create a buffer between the disposal site and anybody of water.
When the weather breaks, any snow-melt debris should be properly disposed ofand cleared completely from the site.
Among the hardest hit, the Washington, D.C., Metropolitan area canceled workfor all federal employees and many children stayed home from school Monday andTuesday.
Heavy snow and fallen limbs left over 150,000 without power in Maryland duringthe height of the storm.
Several airports in the mid-Atlantic have managed to reopen after virtually allflights were canceled through Sunday. Amtrak is still operating on a modifiedschedule near Washington, D.C.
The region will be pummeled again with another strong system through today,which will bring blizzard conditions and as much as a foot of snow to the bigcities.
This storm pounded the Midwest Tuesday, piling a foot of snow in spots. Beforethis storm wraps up early Thursday, it will have impacted over 25 major cities,including New York, Philadelphia, Chicago, Atlanta and Dallas.
Story by AccuWeather.com's Carly Porter.
