Baltimores Water Wheel - Cleaning the Waterways

I was inspired to see a story of a waterway becoming cleaner, so I would like to share this story with you.  In Baltimore, there is a Waterfront Partnership Initiative that is tasked with a "cleaner, greener future for our neighborhoods, streams and harbor"  called Healthy Harbor. 

They have developed a water current and solar powered Water Wheel to clean up their harbor:

Water Wheel

Graphic credit:  Healthy Harbor

Harnessing the power of nature to help keep the Baltimore Harbor clean

The Inner Harbor Water Wheel uses a combination of old and new technology to harness the power of water and sunlight to pick up litter and debris flowing down the Jones Falls River. 
The current of the river provides power to turn the water wheel, which lifts trash and debris from the water and deposits it in a dumpster barge.  A solar panel array provides additional power to keep the machine running even when there is not enough water current.  When the dumpster is full, it is towed away by boat and a new dumpster is put in place.

Where does the trash come from?

Trash comes from people who throw litter on the ground instead of putting it in a trashcan or recycling bin.  When it rains, water carries litter off streets and into storm drains, which flow unfiltered into neighborhood streams.  These streams carry litter into the Baltimore Harbor and the Chesapeake Bay.
The Jones Falls begins as a stream in Baltimore County and is fed by other streams until it becomes a small river in Baltimore City.  Although much of the river is hidden beneath the Jones Falls Expressway, the Jones Falls Watershed is much larger than the river.  A watershed is an area of land that all drains to the same body of water.

They have a lofty goal of wanting to put their Water Wheel out of business - by having people be more responsible about their waste, and to make their waterway fishable and swimmable by  2020.

You can learn more about the water wheel in this NPR report.