The City of Belmont Has Joined The Bay Area-wide Trash Capture Demonstration Project

Belmont, CA – In most Bay Area communities, curbside storm drain inlets (“catch basins”) are the entry points to the storm drain system. Urban runoff carries trash and debris into the storm drain system, which discharges to a creek or the Bay. Belmont is dealing with this pollution problem by participating in the Bay Area-wide Trash Capture Demonstration Project and modifying 35 catch basins with full capture connector pipe screens that block trash before it passes into the system. With the devices installed, runoff water will still be able to pass through, but trash will be captured in the inlets which staff will clean out periodically.

Work started in March 2011 with three test devices, and an additional 32 more devices were installed by November 2011. Multiple locations in the commercial and retail areas were selected for the newly retrofitted storm drains. Research shows that these areas generate much of the trash that pollutes local waters.

The Bay Area-wide Trash Capture Demonstration Project is a collaboration of local, state, and federal agencies working to protect the environment.  Funding for this effort has been provided in full or in part by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, through an agreement with the State Water Resources Control Board and the Estuary Partnership.

Capturing trash is a Municipal Regional Permit requirement of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board. The current storm water permit, which covers the bay area Counties, requires each municipality to reduce trash in local creeks and trash “hotspots” by 40 percent by 2014. The 35 full capture devices will provide Belmont 17 percent of the 40 percent reduction.