SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — A 1,000-foot-long trash boom, installed just north of the border late last year, has prevented 500 tons of Mexican trash and other debris from littering the U.S. side of the border and the Pacific Ocean., according to Oscar Romo, executive director of Alter Terra, a binational conservation group.
The boom is set across the Tijuana River channel and moves up and down depending on the level of the water blocking whatever might be flowing on the surface.
“Based on all the records we kept, we controlled 100 percent of the trash that flowed across the border,” said Romo. “By volume, plastics was the number one, by weight, other debris such as mattresses, furniture, construction debris and wood.”
According to Romo, drones were flown over several areas along the Tijuana River Valley, where trash has historically piled up, and determined that very little, if any new trash, has made it past the boom since it was put in.
“We only found sediment, which is typical because there’s a lot of construction activity in Tijuana and they dump sediment in the river, but other than that no trash.”
Alter Terra is now planning to grade the riverbed to remove tons of sediment and vegetation that has piled up.
To do that, sections that make up the boom will have to be temporarily removed.
“We’re just going to align them on the service road, some of the booms need some maintenance and improvement.”
The concrete anchors that keep the boom from flowing away have already been reinforced.
“We’ve added weight to them and have added material under the boom to prevent erosion.”
According to Romo, the boom has exceeded all expectations and will be re-installed at some point during October.
He says the project’s success is being noticed by others including the city of Los Angeles, which is considering installing a similar boom as a way to clean the L.A. River.
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