L.A., San Gabriel rivers to get ‘trash interceptors’ to protect ocean

Rivers that wind through Los Angeles County have a trashy reputation. Literally.

In many stretches, you’d be hard-pressed to stroll along the banks of the San Gabriel or Los Angeles rivers without meeting abandoned water bottles, candy wrappers, golf balls, sad-looking teddy bears, even shopping carts.

On the rare occasion when rain graces the semi-arid region, it sweeps all that debris into the coastal communities where they drain — and out into the Pacific Ocean, wreaking havoc on an ecosystem where fish, sea lions and surfers frolic.

By the 2028 Olympics, a coalition of city, county, state and private partners hopes to change that by deploying trash-intercepting devices in the Los Angeles and San Gabriel rivers, officials announced Wednesday.

The plan is to prevent hundreds of tons of garbage from getting to the ocean.

This “almost has a dream-like quality to it for me,” Seal Beach City Councilmember Joe Kalmick said at the news conference.

Living in the beach city for more than 50 years, he wondered why nothing could be done about the trash washed in by the San Gabriel River.

“The problem always seemed to be too overwhelming and solutions out of reach,” he said. “I kind of felt like Don Quixote.”

Then, about three years ago, he read an article about the Ocean Cleanup, a Netherlands-based nonprofit that develops and deploys trash interceptors around the world. He reached out, but they were busy trying to clean up the Amazon River.

A few months later, he saw another story, in The Times, about an Ocean Cleanup-helmed interceptor installed in Ballona Creek, between Playa del Rey and Marina del Rey.

A trash interceptor made by the Ocean Cleanup was installed in 2022 in Ballona Creek.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

Inspired to act, he started reaching out to other electeds and officials, including Assemblymember Diane Dixon, a Republican who represents a swath of coastal Orange County. She then created the San Gabriel River Working Group.

Fast-forward to today, feasibility studies for the San Gabriel and Los Angeles river projects are complete, and the Ocean Cleanup is on board.

Officials described it as a major milestone, but far from the finish line. Challenges loom, including getting permits from numerous government agencies.

There’s also a community of green sea turtles living in a brackish area near the mouth of the San Gabriel River — something many Angelenos are unaware of. Stakeholders stressed the need to protect the roughly 100 turtles as the project progresses.

In February, Porkchop, a rescued green sea turtle, was released into the San Gabriel River.

(Josh Barber / Aquarium of the Pacific)

The gentle animals often become tangled in trash. Porkchop, a turtle rescued from the river last year, lost a flipper after a fishing line severely constricted the limb.

She was rehabilitated and released by the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, which is currently caring for yet another turtle found anchored to debris.

This one, a 200-plus-pounder named Meatloaf, similarly suffered a flipper injury. This time, aquarium staffers are trying to save it.

“Our vet staff is using some really amazing therapies to help her with that healing,” said Cassandra Davis, director of volunteer services for the aquarium. “She undergoes basically a spa treatment every Tuesday.”

Although a trash interceptor could help the hefty reptiles, officials said it would need to be placed so as not to cause harm.

James Patterson, who oversees Ocean Cleanup operations in L.A., said the nonprofit is reviewing research by the aquarium and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to guide the plan.

“At every step of the way, these sea turtles are being considered,” he said.

Collecting trash from local rivers sounds great, but how does it work?

James Patterson, right, operations manager for Ocean Cleanup, speaks during the media briefing held at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

After the news conference, Patterson led an expedition to the interceptor operating in Ballona Creek. That one is suavely named 007, though it’s unrelated to James Bond.

The interceptor’s role isn’t obvious from a nearby onshore path, where people were biking, strolling and fishing on the perfectly temperate spring day. It looks like an oddly shaped boat with an arm of floaties extending outward to one end of the rocky shore.

But when it rains, it springs into action. If precipitation is forecast, divers are called out to attach a barrier at the other side of the creek, creating a funnel for debris.

As trash flushes down the river — from Westside communities like Beverly Hills, Santa Monica and Venice — it’s captured by a conveyor belt on the vessel. The material is dumped into six bins located in the center of the interceptor.

Once they’ve reached their capacity of about 20,000 pounds, a boat hauls everything to the harbor and a crane scoops it out in nets.

Since this interceptor was installed in 2022, it has collected more than 200 tons of trash, officials said.

007 represents just one model; every river is different and calls for a unique setup, according to Patterson.

Thumper and Finn play amid trash on a sandbar in the San Gabriel River.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

“One of the challenges with the L.A. River and San Gabriel River is the sheer volume of trash” flowing down, he said. “We need a good extraction method that can actually pull trash out in a rapid amount of time.”

The best design for these rivers, then, may be one that could transfer trash directly to shore. The nonprofit is looking into that now.

The upfront cost for each interceptor is estimated at $5 million to $8 million, with ongoing operation costs up to about $3 million to $4 million per year, according to public works officials. Los Angeles County will pay for operations.

The ambitious completion date is set to coincide with a time when eyes from around the world will be on the Los Angeles region, including its renowned beaches.

Long Beach is set to host a number of events during the Olympics, including open-water swimming, rowing and sailing. Just as the sporting event has spurred upgrades of museums and the Metro, it’s an impetus to make sure the beaches are camera-ready.

“We want to make sure we present the very best of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and that includes a cleaner, healthier, more beautiful coastline,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said.