Adopt a drain

We read Jim Bickel’s letter (Jan. 9) about clearing street drains. The lessons we’ve learned are to mark early on where the drains are, and don’t bother to shovel through the berms.

Last spring the intersection near our house was flooded. We spent a lot of time finding the drains under the berms – they were a couple of yards away from where we started. Once we got them open we spent even more time digging through the berms to drain the water.

This year, starting with the first snows, we dug from the sidewalk out to the drains. This was only a few feet. This week it took about half an hour Tuesday and Wednesday night after work to open a small hole in the ice over the drains. Although there was 6 feet of berm between the drain and the street, the water trickled out from under the snow. It melted more and more of the ice around the drains, streams began to flow under the berms, and the intersection remained dry.

We encourage others to “adopt a drain” early next winter. The meltdown is inevitable and frequently comes all at once – just like the snow.

Trudy Miller and Randy Greyerbiehl

Spokane