Editing Street sweeper (section)

===Technological advancement===
The goal of simple debris removal did not change until the 1970s, when policymakers began to reflect concern for [[water quality]]. In the United States, the lag time in which street sweepers responded can be pinpointed to the Runoff Report of 1998.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/sw_nurp_vol_1_finalreport.pdf |title=Results of the Nationwide Urban Runoff Program |publisher=Environmental Protection Agency |access-date=2013-12-16}}</ref> As older street sweepers were only effective in removing large particles of [[road debris]], small particles of debris remained behind in large quantities.<ref name="German2002">{{cite journal|last1=German |first1=J. |last2=Svensson |first2=G. |year=2002 |title=Metal content and particle size distribution of street sediments and street sweeping waste |journal=Water Science and Technology |volume=46 |issue=6–7 |pages=191–198 |doi= 10.2166/wst.2002.0679|pmid=12380991 |url=http://www.iwaponline.com/wst/04606/wst046060191.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131217015143/http://www.iwaponline.com/wst/04606/wst046060191.htm |archive-date=2013-12-17 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The remaining debris was not seen as an aesthetic issue because rain would wash them away. Today, small particles are known to carry a substantial portion of the [[stormwater]] [[Measures of pollutant concentration|pollutant load]].

Street sweeping can be an effective measure in reducing [[pollutant]]s in [[stormwater runoff]].<ref>[http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/menuofbmps/index.cfm?action=browse&Rbutton=detail&bmp=99&minmeasure= EPA - Stormwater Menu of BMPs] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222033054/http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/stormwater/menuofbmps/index.cfm?action=browse&Rbutton=detail&bmp=99&minmeasure= |date=2012-02-22 }}</ref> The Environmental Protection Agency considers street sweeping a [[best practice]] in protecting water quality.