Newport Beach unveils California's first trash-collecting water wheel
A new multi-million dollar trash-collecting water wheel was unveiled in Newport Beach Friday, the first-of-its-kind in the state, to collect floating trash before it contaminates the local harbors and beaches.
City leaders said every year, hundreds of tons of floating trash and debris enter Newport Bay through San Diego Creek. The garbage eventually makes its way to the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve, Newport Harbor and beaches.
The $5.5 million Newport Bay Trash Interceptor will supplement other cleaning efforts including trash booms, catch basin collection systems and floating skimmers, city officials said.
The new interceptor is expected to collect up to 80 percent of floating debris before it pollutes the city's bays, harbors and beaches.
The autonomous water wheel design is modeled after a similar system in the Baltimore Harbor. It sits on a floating platform that rises and falls with the tide and is secured to the creek bottom by guide piles.
The platform holds a 14-foot wheel that spins using power from the river current or solar panels to move a conveyor belt.
Trash floating downriver is collected in four steps:
A boom system directs floating trash toward the Interceptor
A spinning rake moves trash from the boom area to the conveyor belt
Trash is deposited from the conveyor belt into a collection container
When full, the container is moved by a short rail system to be transferred to a standard trash truck
'Depending on the amount of rainfall, the amount of floating trash and debris reaching the Upper Newport Bay via San Diego Creek is estimated between 100 to 500 tons a year,' city officials said. 'The system is expected to reduce that amount by 80 percent.'
Local officials said they hope the sustainably-powered interceptor is the first of many more to be installed across the state.
'This is the first of its kind in California,' said Katrina Foley, Orange County Supervisor. 'They got the idea from Baltimore, Maryland 10 years ago. It took 10 years now, but we can't take 10 years for the next one. This one will be a model of an innovative way to collect trash in our waterways. There are more than 100 of these channels where we can get trash picked up and protect our harbors, bays and beaches.'
Several government agencies and nonprofit organizations helped fund the $5.5 million cost including the California Department of Water Resources, Ocean Protection Council, Orange County Transportation Authority and Help Your Harbor/Surfrider Foundation.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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