High-tech sweeper could make city streets clean and green

Machine works without water

Imagine a street in the winter without crusty grime from melting snow, that residue of salt, sand, and crud that clings to cars and shoes.

Meet the Waterless Eagle, a new breed of street sweeper that has both environmental and public works officials giddy. With enclosed brushes and a powerful vacuum, the machine sucks up the grit and dust that most machines miss. It increases efficiency, advocates say, and because it uses no water, toxins are not washed down catch basins and into rivers and bays.

City officials demonstrated the Waterless Eagle on American Legion Highway in Dorchester yesterday for reporters. The city has not bought any of the $235,000 machines, but it was clear that officials were impressed by a gutter so clean that the black asphalt almost looked new.

"This is state of the art," said Dennis Royer, chief of public works and transportation.

Boston's current fleet of seven sweepers each can use more than 800 gallons of water a day. The three private companies that sweep major city streets at night and neighborhoods from spring to fall also deploy machines that rely on water.

The street sweeping contacts going out to bid for the next fiscal year will give preference to companies that use at least some waterless sweepers. And when the city's own sweepers, which cost $150,000 to $180,000, need to be replaced, the hope is to add a few Waterless Eagles.