Summary: Fort Worth has a new "weapon" against Trinity River water trash, even trash that washes downstream from Willow Park. And it looks like fun.
Latest Update: 19 June 2024; posted Friday, 03 November, 2023
Fort Worth water trash collection, fun and effective and hopefully not Willow Park's trash.
Update: June 2024
• Fort Worth wants a ‘trash wheel’ to clean up the Trinity. City still needs $445K to build it, Fort Worth Report, 08 June 2024
The Clear Fork Branch of the Trinity River starts in Parker County and runs right through Willow Park, on its way through Fort Worth. (1) And too often our runoff trash goes with the flow. But Fort Worth has a new "weapon" against Trinity River water trash. And it looks like fun.
A hydro-solar powered, trash-collecting, water wheel. In the articles below, watch videos of the Baltimore, MD "Wheel" in action.
• Fort Worth making progress on ‘water wheel' project to clean Trinity River, NBCDFW, 24 October 2023. [Includes video.]
The City of Fort Worth is one step closer to a cleaner Trinity River.
Officials want to bring in a trash-collecting waterwheel to remove floating trash from the water.
The waterwheel is a floating technology that picks up floating trash, puts it on a conveyor belt inside the craft and then deposits it into a trash bin. It is powered sustainably, primarily by river currents but if the hydropower is not sufficient, the craft can work off of solar power.
It can capture up to 50,000 pounds of floatable litter and debris daily.
“We’re very excited to move this project a little further along,” said Cody Whittenburg, acting director of the city of Fort Worth Environmental Services Department. “Over the last few years, we have been working to solicit donations and to fundraise – and to finish out the engineering design and some of the core of engineer permits that are required to put something like this along the river.”
The water wheel has been in planning for years and started to gain momentum starting in 2019.
• Trash-collecting waterwheel coming to Fort Worth, Green Source DFW, 17 December 2021, [Includes video.]
When it comes to litter control, the “wheel" deal is coming to Tarrant County.
The city of Fort Worth recently announced that its teaming up with Tarrant Regional Water District and community partners to purchase two solar-powered waterwheels.
The giant wheel-based machines are placed in flowing waterways to collect and remove floatable pollution.
Municipal leaders say the waterwheels will improve the aesthetics and water quality of the Trinity River for both humans and wildlife.
“Everyone wants access to clean water and the ability to enjoy recreational activities without coming into contact with trash or stormwater pollution,” said Brandon Bennett, code compliance director for Fort Worth. “The concept behind waterwheels couldn’t be any simpler, but the results are astonishing when it comes to cleaning tons of trash pollution from waterways in a short period of time.”
The waterwheels themselves are pollution-free, using solar and hydro power. The river current assists in turning the wheel. Solar-powered pumps work a conveyer to lift trash and deposit it into a detachable dumpster.
The plan is to install at least two waterwheels on the Trinity River, north of downtown Fort Worth, to help clean the Clear Fork and West Fork of the river.
• A Closer Look at How Fort Worth's Waterwheel Will Clean the Trinity River, NBCDFW, 17 December 2023
(1) Texas State Historial Association > Trinity River
The Clear Fork of the Trinity rises in northwestern Parker County and flows first southeast and then northeast forty-five miles to join the West Fork of the Trinity at Fort Worth in central Tarrant County.
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