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Floating TrashTrap – Oxnard, CA


Project Specifications:

Location: Oxnard, CA

Application:
Floating Netting TrashTrap

Project Profile:
As part of a grant-funded study of Kiddie Beach in the Channel Islands Harbor, the Ventura County Watershed Protection District evaluated the persistent pollution problems at Kiddie Beach from the Oxnard West Storm Drain. A final report contained recommendations for treatment devices to control trash and debris. A Floating TrashTrap Netting System was selected as the most appropriate device to address this issue.

Challenges:
The channel empties into a bay and fish swim up and down the length of the channel. Based on that, the main challenge of this project was to place the system in the water in such a manner as to capture trash, but still allow fish free travel.

Solutions:
A Floating Netting TrashTrap system containing two nets was dropped into the water by a crane. With the objective to allow fish to travel between the bay and the channel, legs were placed on the floating unit and to shorten the funnel curtain in the front. The legs were made of stainless steel, as was the entire unit. At low tide the legs kept the floating TrashTrap off the bottom of the channel, thus allowing fish unrestricted access, and there was plenty of room for fish to swim under the floating TrashTrap at higher tides. The unit and the funnel curtain were sufficiently deep to keep trash from passing underneath.

In a quote from the Oxnard Public Works newsletter, City Works, “The innovative floating device traps floating trash and debris. Now, unsightly items and pollutants like discarded beverage containers, plastic and paper wrappings and rusting metal objects that would normally end up on our beaches are ensnared in the system’s mesh nets. The device also traps natural debris such as tree branches and leaves.” Once filled, the nets are lifted out of the system and taken to a local land fill and new nets are installed.