MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The City of Morgantown is soliciting engineering firms that could design a trash collection system behind the Morgantown Lock and Dam on the Monongahela River. The Morgantown Trash Removal Initiative will be a federally funded project that will address a decades-old problem in a highly visible section of the city.
Morgantown Assistant City Manager Emily Muzzarelli said the concept would be similar to what is used in other cities like Baltimore. She said the problem in Morgantown is common, but the flowing river does create issues other areas don’t have to deal with.
“It’s a water current system where it spins the wheel and picks the trash up and dumps it behind you,” Muzzarelli said recently on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.” “Being on a flowing river, it presents additional challenges.”
The piling up of the debris behind the lock and dam has been an issue for years in Morgantown. The Upper Monongahela River Association has been among the groups to monitor the issue.
The debris currently collects just down from the Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place, the Ruby Amphitheater at Hazel Ruby McQuain Park and right along the Caperton Rail Trail. Events and the hotel draw tens of thousands of residents and tourists to the area every year.
“While most of it is natural, there will be plastics, bottles, and some barrels,” Muzzarelli said. “So, it makes the river appear to be more polluted and less clean than it actually is.”
The system would either use a boom system or some type of unmanned boat to collect the debris and trash before it becomes wedged into the back of the dam. The engineering firm would design the specific operation of the system.
“Collect the debris before it gets to the lock and dam,” Muzzarelli said. “That could be through a boom system or a robotic unmanned boat system.”
The trash and debris are currently removed following major weather events when high water conditions push the material through the dam. The result is several cubic yards of waste and trash sent down the river to unknown locations.
“Unfortunately what it does right now is it passes through those gates and ends up downstream,” Muzzarelli said. “That could be along the banks, shores, kayak launches, or boat docks.”
Funding for this portion of the project has been provided through a grant from U.S. Senator Shelley Moore Capito, and firms have until 3 p.m. on Jan. 22 to respond to the city. Once the design is identified, work will begin to qualify for grants to fund the work, but no timeline has been set.
“There’s a lot of permitting involved with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, there could be something with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the disposal of the waste,” Muzzarelli said. “There are a lot of moving parts in a project like this.”