$250G boat to help take out the trash in Merrimack River
A $250,000 trash-skimming vessel will soon be purchased to help clean up the Merrimack River.
The funding, provided by the state, will be given to the Clean River Project, a nonprofit organization that works to preserve rivers, lakes and streams. Rocky Morrison, the founder of the Clean River Project, says the new vessel will be a “game changer.”
State Sen. Barbara L’Italien helped to secure the funding as part of an environmental bond bill, saying she saw the work Morrison was doing to help improve the cleanliness of the river and wanted to help him. “Rocky has been doing a great job for a number of years,” she said, adding the new skimmer will be “much more safe and much more efficient.”
Now, Gov. Charlie Baker must authorize the allocation of funds as a final step to the process.
Morrison said the Merrimack River provides drinking water to 600,000 people; however, 100 million gallons of raw sewage are dumped into the river every year. The new trash-skimming boat will help greatly in cleaning up this sewage.
“I never thought we would be receiving a piece of equipment of this magnitude,” he said. The trash-skimming vessel is custommade and takes four months to build.
The boat, called the Mud Cat Dredge, will be manufactured in Baltimore by United Marine International. The company has produced other models in the past that cleaned Minnesota’s lake shore and Singapore’s underground sewer system. Once production starts, Morrison says he will fly to Baltimore to see the equipment and how it’s made.
Morrison says the boat will be ready to use come spring 2019. It works using a conveyor belt system that collects waste and empties it into a dumpster which is later taken to an incinerator.
Morrison says this is an important feature because it means human hands will never come in contact with the waste. “It’s all about making it hands-free,” he said.
According to Morrison, the river is currently cleaned using a Bobcat and a vessel with a hydraulic arm to scoop waste out of booms, which are large, high-strength containers that trap waste in the river.
The Clean River Project will own the new boat, and Morrison says that means he can use it to clean other waterways. The vessel can be unloaded at any boat ramp and can be used to clean other large bodies of water.