river trash – Aquarius-Systems https://aquarius-systems.com Surface Water Management Equipment Tue, 20 Jan 2026 22:30:10 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://aquarius-systems.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/cropped-favicon-32x32.png river trash – Aquarius-Systems https://aquarius-systems.com 32 32 How much trash does the Mississippi River funnel from the heartland to the ocean? https://aquarius-systems.com/how-much-trash-does-the-mississippi-river-funnel-from-the-heartland-to-the-ocean/ Thu, 01 Feb 2024 15:06:19 +0000 https://aquarius-systems.com/?p=7157 Although many people might think oceanside cities bear the responsibility to keep plastic and trash out of the water, the Mississippi River can act as a funnel for that trash from the heart of the country to the Gulf of Mexico. The Mississippi River drains more than 40% of the continental U.S. – just how much debris does it take along with it?

That’s what a group of researchers and environmental advocates wanted to find out when they began a litter analysis of a handful of cities along the river a few years ago. This fall, they released what they’re calling the “first-ever snapshot of the state of plastic pollution along the Mississippi River.”

About 80,000 litter items were logged during the study’s data collection period.

Plastic was the top material found in and around the river, making up 75% of the total trash. Paper and lumber was next at 9%, followed by metal at 7%, glass at 5%, and personal protective equipment like masks at 2%.

The top 10 most commonly found items included:

  • 11,278 cigarette butts
  • 9,809 food wrappers
  • 6,723 beverage bottles
  • 5,747 foam fragments
  • 4,239 hard plastic fragments
  • 4,210 paper and cardboard items
  • 3,882 plastic bags
  • 3,640 aluminum or tin cans
  • 3,260 foam or plastic cups
  • 3,149 film fragments

Other notable finds include 825 masks, 480 items of clothing and shoes and 291 pieces of fishing gear.

Read More https://mississippitoday.org/2023/12/29/mississippi-river-trash/

 

]]> Garbage Buildup on the Drina River Threatens Bosnia Hydropower Dam https://aquarius-systems.com/floating-river-trash-is-threatening-regional-hydropower-plant/ Tue, 30 Nov 2021 22:03:10 +0000 https://aquarius-systems.com/?p=2793 The Balkan nations have poor waste management programs, and tons of garbage routinely end up in rivers, including the occasional washing machine or computer screen. A broken barrier this week caused a massive buildup of garbage on the Drina that has threatened Bosnia’s Visegrad dam.

Officials say that between 6,000 and 8,000 cubic meters of waste are pulled out of the river each year. At the Visegrad dam, efforts began to clear away the clogging garbage and to avoid potential damage to the power system.

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