FORT WORTH, Texas — Fort Worth will soon install a trash-collecting waterwheel in the Clear Fork of the Trinity River, near Panther Island Pavilion.
City leaders say the machine, modeled after Baltimore's Mr. Trash Wheel, can collect up to 2.5 garbage truckloads of trash each day. Booms will funnel floating waste onto conveyor belts that feed a receptacle.
Officials hope the wheel becomes a landmark, encouraging personal responsibility for trash disposal and collection.
"It's going to be really visible and something people will ask questions about," Tarrant Regional Water District Environmental Director Darrel Andrews said. "We can turn that into a chance to educate them."
Andrews says people rarely throw trash directly into the river. Instead, rain or wind carry garbage from roads, sidewalks and storm drains to the water.
Volunteers collected 28,500 pounds of waste on the Trinity after a flooding event in August 2022, the city says. Fort Worth non-profit Streams and Valleys helped organize that cleanup.
"It's just so apparent how many Styrofoam cups, takeout bags, and water bottles we all use," Executive Director Stacey Pierce said. "It literally litters both sides of the bank."
The city plans to install signs near the waterwheel that will explain its purpose and remind visitors loose trash will eventually litter the Trinity.
"It'll raise awareness that what I do three or 20 miles away is going to impact this segment of the river," said Andrews.
Pierce envisions the wheel hosting field trips, ideal for educating children about their responsibilities.
In a similar fashion, Baltimore's Mr. Trash Wheel has become a tourist destination. Pierce, Andrews, and other city leaders visited the site as they discussed implementing a similar system in Fort Worth.
"It looks friendly," Pierce said. "It looks interesting. It's eye-catching. It makes people want to ask questions. It helps them to be curious, and the more curious we are the more we learn."
Discussions about installing a trash-collecting waterwheel in Fort Worth began more than six years ago, Andrews said. The Trinity River poses unique design challenges that engineers must address.
Unlike Baltimore's harbor, the Trinity River's water levels and velocity fluctuate with the weather. Workers must essentially anchor the floating wheel to piers drilled into the river's bottom. Such a design will allow the machine to rise and fall with the water without drifting side-to-side.
The Trinity River also carries larger debris, including trees, which could damage an ill-engineered water wheel.
Fort Worth and the Tarrant Regional Water District each committed $350,000 to the wheel's design and installation. Private donors have already committed $660,000 to cover remaining costs.
The city hopes to eventually install a second wheel on the Trinity River's West Fork near the Henderson Street bridge.
"The river is yours, so invest in it and do your part to keep it clean," Pierce said. "If the Trinity River is good, then Fort Worth is good."