How the Japanese Use Sprinklers for Snow Removal

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1. at the beginning of winter season for 2021-2022, sapporo city announced that that they will employ a new technique with regards to snow on the roads. instead of snow removal, they will push some on the side and flatten the rest on the road itself. they reason that from their studies, as the snow melts the snow on the road will naturally dissipate and the water flows on the gutter. i am not sure if they said it will save them money but one of the reason they are doing this is supposedly lack of drivers etc. they hail it as the triumph of employing information and technology to tackle problems in the city. come 2021-2022 snow season. it was record breaking snow fall. in the beginning, the city merrily employ the new technique. then at the middle of the season, as the snow accumulates on the side of street like mountain, the weather turned and it alternates to hot and cold and this caused the snow to partially melt. the result, the road looks ended up pockmarked since the snow did not melt uniformly. this caused damage to vehicles and slowed traffic. the citizens began grumble. they criticized the city and call for more snow removal asap. the city fumbled on its response. this affected the people’s reception of sapporo’s winter olympic hosting bid. facing backlash, the city refrained from doing referendum about it. anyway, this year, snow removal again returned to normal as they ditch the new technique.

   this was during the year of the new technique:

   https://youtu.be/5u-h0KUtakM