We've all seen the snowplows, but the city's multimillion-dollar battle against the snow also includes more than 1,700 temporary day laborers and dozens of big melting machines. NY1's Michael Herzenberg filed the following report.

The mounds of snow mean some extra dough for a group of day laborers.

"Got to work, got to get some money, you know what I mean?" said Angel Rosario, a day laborer for the Sanitation Department. "That's what it is. I'll work hard, get paid. That's it. The city's paying, so why not do it?"

Rosario joined a regiment of sorts, one of the 1,700-plus people who signed up to work for the Department of Sanitation to battle the snow. They're clearing sidewalks, bus stops, crosswalks and the area around fire hydrants.

Rosario is otherwise unemployed, and the $13.50 an hour helps put food in his child's mouth.  

"Whichever way it comes, if I can find money, I make it," he said.

If Rosaio is a foot soldier battling the snow, you can call a snow melter that resembles a giant hot tub the big artillery helping to win the war. The 50-degree water inside melts as much as 60 tons of snow an hour. The city has strategically deployed 36 of them around the boroughs, including one on - coincidentally - Water Street, in Manhattan.  

"Particularly in some of the narrower streets in the city and Queens, we really are having to take the snow out of the blocks, and we're bringing it here and we're beginning melting operations," said Sanitation Commissioner Kathryn Garcia.

All the water created by the big guns simply flows into the nearest sewer.

With temperatures soaring into the 40s Tuesday, a lot of snow is melting naturally, creating curbside water hazards all over the city.

"It's a little dirty and wet, but you know, if you have the right footwear, it's fine," said one New Yorker.

One sign the Sanitation Department is turning the corner: the commissioner says trash collection will resume Thursday, with crews working 12-hour shifts until at least Sunday to cart away the backlog of garbage beginning to pile up on the streets.