Baltimore's Solar-Powered Water Wheel Can Devour 50,000 Pounds of Harbor Trash Every Day
Two inventors in Baltimore have engineered, constructed and implemented a solar powered water wheel that sits at the mouth of Baltimore Harbor and Chesapeake Bay. It turns slowly, non-stop and collects trash that sails down the river from all over the Jones Falls watershed.
The wheel consists of a conveyer belt that is being powered by the giant water wheel. They have a rope system strewn across the river to collect all floating trash and direct it to the conveyer, which is pulled up and into giant bins. When the water is flowing too slowly to power the wheel, 30 solar panels on top of the mechanism power a pump which drains onto the wheel and keeps it turning.
Since its inception, the wheel has collected over 148 tons of trash, including 86,000 plastic bottles, 110,000 polystyrene containers and 4,000,000 cigarette butts.
You can download and/or view the entire, up to date collection data here.
It began when inventor, John Kellett, overheard tourists complaining about how filthy the river was. Day after day, he considered the problem and eventually came up with the wheel, enlisting the help of Daniel Chase to complete the project.
It is estimated that by 2020 the bay will be swimmable again.
http://healthyharborbaltimore.org/whats-happening-now/water-wheel