Waste prevention project begins on South Saskatchewan River

It’s no secret that tons of waste and debris end up in the South Saskatchewan river.

But that may soon be changing, thanks to a pilot project designed by the University of Saskatchewan. The city partnered with the university to create garbage trap bags, which will help collect waste and debris before it enters the river.

The team from the university includes Kerry McPhedran a professor in the engineering college, Leland Bryshun, a graduate student from the toxicology program, and Markus Brinkmann, director of the school’s toxicology centre.

Bryshun said he thinks the project is a really good idea.

“This bag is called a pollutant trap, and it’s attached right to the storm water outfalls.” explained Brinkmann.

“A storm water outfall is where all the surface runoff that is created when rain runs off of these paved surfaces get diverted into the river.”

That water carries plastic and waste, along with leaves, litter and twigs, and the new trap bags are meant to prevent those objects from ending up in the river.

Both the university and the city will be doing regular checks on the bags, to see if they  need to be emptied and to ensure they are still attached after big storms.

“Once the debris is taken out of the bag, the students and technicians sort through the garbage to characterize what is in there,” said Brinkmann.

“We want to quantify exactly the amounts, so we can understand what it is we are capturing.”

The bags themselves are very similar to a fishing net, made from a rugged fabric material with a projected lifespan of five years.

“I believe we went with the fish net materials because of the lightweight construction of it and because of its resiliency.” said Bryshun

The bag itself also has built in safety features designed to kick in during heavy storms.

“The net has a net-release mechanism.” said Brinkmann. “Once water starts building up behind the bag, there’s a float in there that’ll trigger a release mechanism to detach the bag from the outfall. It’s still attached by a chain link so that it doesn’t fall into the river.”

The pilot project will have quarterly reviews with the city to see how the nets are working.

The Meewasin Valley Authority organizes a cleanup for the city every year, which is also used to help track garbage around the river.

“One of the things that we have done in past years is use apps to see how much litter you would find in the river valley.” said Brinkmann.

If the amount of trash collected during the cleanup decreases over the next two years, Brinkmann said the project could be considered a success.