Debate Over Dumping Excess Snow in Narragansett Bay

 Twitter:  @markcurtisABC6  

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The mountains of snow continue to pile up in Providence, and the city is running out of places to put it.

Now former Mayor Joe Paolino has an idea – why not just load up trucks full of snow, and dump it in the Providence River?

“When it starts getting warmer, the snow is going to start melting. And you’re going to see a lot of floods, not only in Providence, but in other cities and towns in Rhode Island. So if they dump it in the water now, it’s going to help us later on,” said Joe Paolino.

Paolino says he also struggled handling snow storms, and is just trying to help the new Mayor.

ABC6 Chief Political Reporter Mark Curtis said, “Well Providence has had to get very creative in terms of where it puts all this snow. Even one of the vacant 195 land parcels, that is earmarked for economic development, is now being used for snow dumping.”

The city is also dumping snow at India Point Park, and three other locations.

But Mayor Elorza is resisting calls to put the snow – with all the road salt and sand mixed in it – into the water, as they are now doing in Boston.

“The thought of throwing it or putting it in the river, is an absolute last case scenario. I would hate to do something like that. And I will do everything in my power to avoid that,” said Mayor Jorge Elorza, (D) Providence.

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management would have to approve any to put the snow, in rivers and bays.