It's National Public Works Week, when transportation, water, waste, parks, and many other service employees are celebrated.

This year's theme is "Stronger Together," with an emphasis on how different public services culminate to make communities great.

Okotoks Transportation Team Lead, Peter McDowell says these kinds of services often go unseen, sometimes on purpose.

"Sometimes people don't see us or don't see where the service is coming or how it comes. We've done some night shifts with street sweeping on some of our busiest thoroughfares so that we're not disrupting traffic as much. We're not always in the public eye but we're working behind the scenes to make sure we're taking care of things."

Despite that, McDowell says public works are critical, and the kind of thing you definitely notice if they're gone.

"There's been a few public works chapters that have done videos like 'a day without public works,' and you'd notice garbage would start to pile up, the roads would start falling apart, you wouldn't have clean drinking water, and you might not be able to flush your toilet. People would definitely notice if things weren't working."

Crews have been busy tackling street cleaning operations, with line painting likely to get underway soon.

McDowell says Okotoks crews have already seen some appreciation from locals.

"We've had some people standing on the side of their driveway while the street sweepers are going by and they have some younger children excited to see the equipment go by and giving us a wave, that's always nice to see. We've had a few people take some short videos and send them in to say 'thanks for sweeping the street."

In Okotoks, the town will be recognizing a different service for every day of the week, and are inviting people to show their appreciation with the hashtag #NPWWOkotoks

 

Send us your news tips, story ideas and comments at news@highriveronline.com