May 21 to 27 is National Public Works Week! This year's theme from the Ontario Public Works Association is "Connecting the World Through Public Works." The theme represents out we are all connected globally by the work from public works. Our staff and other public works professional work to raise Newmarket's quality of life so that the community can live happier and healthier. From keeping roads safe, to beautifying parks and trails, to managing and maintaining our facilities and assets (like our bridges and watermains), they work tirelessly to make sure you can enjoy this community to the fullest. They contribute to the great quality of life and enjoyment in our community.
Learn more about our Public Works staff by review these 10 fun facts below:
10 fun facts about Public Works Service
- Did you know? Public Works Staff operate and maintain the water and wastewater linear and vertical infrastructure. This includes a combination of over 900 km of water and wastewater pipes, over 9000 water and wastewater maintenance holes, over 5204 municipality-owned and maintained water vales, over 2300 municipality-owned fire hydrants, 5 sewage lift stations and over 40,000 water and wastewater service connections.
- Water and Wastewater staff test 24 samples of water weekly for E.coli, bacteria and contaminants, as well as over 2500 chlorine residual checks all around the Town throughout the year, to ensure the highest quality of water for our community.
- We collected 9,249 lbs of e-waste at the most recent Electronics Recycling Event. By recycling these items instead of dumping them in landfills, Newmarket was able to conserve energy, lessen pollution, and cut greenhouse gas emission.
- Did you know? Our Forestry staff are placing over 600 planters and baskets around Town this season and will be planting over 30 types of flowers/plants - many of which are pollinator friendly to help support Newmarket as the 14th Bee City in Canada.
- Watch out for the "Quench Buggy" water trailer at upcoming Newmarket events! Bring your reusable water bottle and refill it at the Quench Buggy. The water trailer has the capacity of 1,000 litres which is expected to replace approximately 2,000 plastic water bottles each event.
- Our Parks help set up and tear down over 80 Town and Community events for everyone to enjoy.
- Facility staff, using a Zamboni, resurface more than 61.2 million square feet of ice each winter season to ensure all residents and visitors have a smooth surface to skate on! This is equivalent 594 round trips from Mulock Drive to Green Lane.
- Last Winter, our Winter Maintenance Crew dealt with 41 winter events adding up to 17,380 kms travelled, which equals just under halfway around the centre of the world, and applied 4,196 tonnes of Thawrox on the road network to ensure safe roads and sidewalks for all.
- Staff hauled over 1000 loads of snow this winter which amounted to 6000m3 – the amount of 3 Olympic sized pools.
- Our Roads Crew filled approx. 3,513 potholes at 0.3 cubic feet, equating to filling 42 average sized refrigerators.
