Newport Beach Breaks Ground on $5.5-Million Trash Interceptor for Newport Harbor
By Newport Indy Staff – September 15, 2023
Source: Newport Beach Independent – https://www.newportbeachindy.com/newport-beach-breaks-ground-on-5-5-million-trash-interceptor-for-newport-harbor/
Newport Beach City Council members, joined by state and county elected representatives, held a ceremonial groundbreaking event on Friday, Sept. 15 to kick off construction of the Newport Bay Trash Interceptor, a sustainably powered system to collect floating trash before it enters the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve, Newport Harbor and beaches.
The $5.5 million system will be built in the San Diego Creek, about 800 feet upstream from the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve. It is expected to capture 80 percent of the floating trash and debris from the San Diego Creek. Depending on the amount of rainfall, between 100 and 500 tons of trash reaches the Upper Newport Bay via San Diego Creek every year.
In July, the Council awarded the $3.9 million construction contract to Brea-based Jilk Heavy Construction, Inc. The system is expected to be operational by December 2024.
The solar-powered, debris-gathering water wheel in Baltimore, the same concept that is proposed for Newport Bay. — Photo courtesy of Billy Dutton/Baltimore waterfront ©
The Trash Interceptor, modeled after a similar project in the Baltimore Harbor, will sit on a floating platform that rises and falls with the tide. The platform will be secured to the creek bottom by guide piles. The platform will hold a 14-foot wheel that spins using power from the river current or solar panels to move a conveyor belt.
Trash floating downriver is then 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.
The Trash Interceptor will supplement other City trash-reduction efforts already in place, such as trash booms, catch basin collection systems and floating skimmers.
Project partners recognized at the event included:
- State Senate District 37 Rep. Dave Min
- State Senate District 36 Rep. Janet Nguyen
- State Assemblymember (District 72) Diane Dixon
- Orange County Board of Supervisors District 5 Supervisor Katrina Foley
- State of California Dept. of Water Resources
- Ocean Protection Council
- Orange County Transportation Authority
- Help your Harbor/Surfrider Foundation
- CR&R Environmental Services
Source: Newport Beach Independent https://www.newportbeachindy.com/newport-beach-breaks-ground-on-5-5-million-trash-interceptor-for-newport-harbor/
“I am pleased to report that a long-awaited water quality project, the Newport Bay Trash Interceptor, was approved this week by the Newport Beach City Council.”
On Tuesday, July 11, the City Council awarded a $3.9 million construction contract to Brea-based Jilk Heavy Construction, Inc. We expect to break ground this fall and begin operations in 2024.
The Trash Interceptor is a sustainably powered, floating trash and debris collection system that will be built in the San Diego Creek between the Jamboree Road Bridge and MacArthur Boulevard Bridge, upstream from the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve.
If you’re out and about on Newport Harbor on Sunday afternoon, July 16, you may see dozens of sailboats racing around the harbor. Give them plenty of room and cheer them on—it’s the 87th Annual Flight of Newport Beach, presented by the Commodores Club of the Newport Beach Chamber of Commerce with assistance from the Balboa Yacht Club.
It’s hard to believe that Thursday, July 6 will mark nine years since the passing of Newport Beach Lifeguard Ben Carlson. He was special to so many people, as his unexpected and untimely death would prove.
On that Sunday, in 2014, shortly after 5 p.m., a Newport Beach rescue boat identified a swimmer in distress off 16th Street. The surf at the time was six-to-eight feet.
Ben, as everyone knew, entered the water to make that rescue and swam to the man, making contact, before they were both hit by an unexpected large wave. The swimmer Ben was attempting to rescue was successfully pulled from the water, but Ben was not.
Newport Beach scored high marks during the summer season in the 33rd Annual Heal the Bay Beach Report Card, released Wednesday, June 14.
Of the 36 Newport Beach bay and ocean testing sites listed in the report, 32 earned an A or A+ during the summer season, when the beaches are most frequented. Four sites earned a B grade. Heal the Bay’s annual report measures bacterial pollution for more than 700 West Coast beaches, from Washington to Baja, ranking them and grading their water quality from A to F.
The United States Army Corps of Engineers (the Corps) has halted the dredging of Lower Newport Bay and construction authorization for the City of Newport Beach’s (the city’s) Confined Aquatic Disposal (CAD) facility. The Corps put things on hold after Orange County Coastkeeper (Coastkeeper) filed a lawsuit challenging their failure to fully analyze actions possibly violating the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and Endangered Species Act (ESA).
So, is that a good thing or a bad thing?
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