Newport Beach debuts $5.5 million device to keep its coastline clean
Newport Beach debuted its $5.5 million device designed to capture trash flowing into Newport Bay and the ocean.
"We have 120 miles of watershed above us," Newport Beach Public Works Director Dave Webb said. "This watershed goes all the way back to the Orange County foothills. It goes back to Lake Forest, Laguna Hills, Tustin, Orange and Irvine. All that material that's on the streets — the trash, the cups — end up washing down here.
The newly designed trash interceptor docked in the San Diego Creek is modeled after a trash collector in Baltimore. The difference is it sits in a creek. It's current coupled with solar panels will help power the convertor belt collect trash.
"The water wheel is being energized by the solar panels and the water wheel moves the conveyor and the rakes which then conveys the trash up to the dumpster," city engineer Bob Stein, who came up with the concept said.
Depending on the amount of rainfall, anywhere between 100 to 500 tons of trash moved down the creek into the Newport Bay every year.
"That trash really is flowing all the way to our beaches," Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley said. "Our beaches are top quality, and we want to keep them that way. This trash interceptor is going to collect 80% of the trash."
