November 2020 - Parks & Recreation - 49

WAWA and Workforce Development team
members perform educational outreach
by sorting trash and the Escaped Trash
Assessment Protocol (ETAP).

and Liability Act of 1980), impaired
water quality, pervasive flooding and
combined sewer overflows.
Atlanta's Westside neighborhoods,
English Avenue, Vine City, Castleberry Hill, Ashview Heights and the
Atlanta University Center - home to
several historically Black colleges and
universities - served as an incubator
for African American leaders of the
civil rights movement. These communities were home to some of Atlanta's
most notable citizens, including Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott
King, Maynard Jackson, Andrew
Young and Julian Bond. While these
communities are hubs of African
American culture in Atlanta, they are
also among the most impoverished in
the city with about 67 percent living
below the federal poverty level.

The Project and
Technology
The trash catchment effort in Proctor
Creek began with a study by Georgia Tech students. They analyzed the
watershed to provide recommendations for the placement of the traps
and assisted with design calculations
to determine the hydrologic loading
of the traps (volume of water capable for the traps to handle).

Using information from the
Georgia Tech report, the project
team decided to test two different
trap technologies:
* The Litter Gitter, produced by
Osprey Initiative - a smallstream litter collection device
that uses floating booms to guide
trash into a collection container.
* The Bandalong Litter Trap, produced by Storm Water Systems
Inc. - a large, industrial-grade
aluminum system that uses the
water's current to guide debris into
a litter trap.
These passive systems are designed to capture floating debris
without trapping wildlife. They
have few to no moving parts, require minimal maintenance beyond emptying collected trash
from the systems and allow stream
currents to move trash into the
collection receptacle. The locations and types of trash traps installed were selected to match the
characteristics of the stream. The
Bandalong's heavy-duty construction and multiple anchoring points
make it ideal for the strong, sudden
flows that occur in Proctor Creek,
while the flexibility and compact
nature of the Litter Gitter make it

suitable for the smaller tributaries.
Initially, five Litter Gitters were
installed at three different park
locations in the watershed. The
Bandalong is located at the site of
the future Proctor Creek Park; this
waterway is the largest of all the locations, and requires a system, such
as the Bandalong, to withstand its
larger flows and larger debris.
The technology providers were
able to offer expertise and assistance for this project that proved
invaluable. When considering what
technology to use, some vendors offer training while others can provide
full service for rental and maintenance, which are important considerations for a successful project.
Throughout the past year, the sites
and the technology were evaluated
for their effectiveness. Smaller traps
that don't require multiple anchoring points are able to be moved easily. While this allows for nimbleness,
they also are more susceptible to impacts from debris and storm surge.
The Georgia Institute of Technology's pre-project evaluation of the watershed and possible locations proved
vital; however, having the ability
to move traps based on efficiency
helped to ensure a flexible program.

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Parks & Recreation

November 2020 - Parks & Recreation

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