A Baltimore video [1] of a cleverly designed self-propelled water wheel conveyor belt that removes storm water litter and drops it in a trash container has been making the email rounds locally. The NPR story says the water wheel has removed 40 tons of trash since May. Impressive, right? Even Mobile's City Council Member Freddy Richardson suggested Mobile buy a Water-Wheel though it could cost up to $800,000 [2]. You can thank lead weight Mobile leaders like Freddy Richardson for Mobile being in so much trouble with ADEM over storm water issues in the first place. Clueless leaders should not be on the City Council, but Mobile seems to elect based on skin color, not qualifications.
Anyway, if you watch the NPR video you will see the Baltimore water wheel device dump part of a tree trunk into the dumpster. Much of the stuff washed down waterways during normal rain storms is natural debris like floating vegetation, leaves, twigs and parts of trees. Natural debris is extremely heavy compared to litter. Litter is mostly empty water bottles, light weight plastic grocery bags and styrofoam.
So when these stories about a device removing "TONS" of "TRASH" make the rounds, the media is just repeating what they are told by officials. Officials like to use large TONNAGE figures to justify their expensive purchase. Companies selling expensive litter trap devices like to also use those big tonnage numbers in their sales pitches. Tons removed is meaningless if it includes natural debris.
The only gauge that should be used to measure whether a City's storm water management devices and policies are effective or not is the answer to one simple question. "Are any of their waterways lined with trash or are they all clean?"
Most of Mobile's waterways are littered with storm water trash. How many city workers are out in boats removing Mobile's waterway trash? ZERO. The City of Mobile obviously doesn't care what ADEM thinks.
[1] http://www.npr.org/2014/06/23/324738205/baltimores-water-wheel-keeps-on-turning-pulling-in-tons-of-trash
[2] http://www.al.com/news/mobile/index.ssf/2014/07/new_stormwater_management_ordi.html