On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the permanent implementation of the Ballona Creek Trash Interceptor Project, which was deployed in October 2022 with a goal to divert trash and other materials away from Santa Monica Bay.
The staff report on the item stated that between October 2022 and April 2024, the Interceptor prevented over 248,000 pounds of trash and debris (124 tons) from reaching the ocean and local beaches. The amount is more than twice the anticipated production of the project, 60 tons, and locals shared observations that beaches near the Interceptor site have been noticeably cleaner since deployment.
Supervisor Holly J. Mitchell, who made the motion to move the project past pilot stage, stated that early concerns about the Interceptor’s noise and aesthetics were "thoroughly evaluated" as part of a minimum performance criteria, and was eventually seen as a "huge success."
"We’re proud to say that the Interceptor completed its mission by capturing over 50% of the trash in Ballona Creek and reducing trash on our County beaches without impacting the quality of life for our residents," Mitchell said.
Deployed by The Ocean Cleanup, the Interceptor (called Interceptor 007) is a solar-powered unit that sits on the surface of the water to catch and collect waste floating downstream. Ballona Creek was chosen as a pilot location due to pollutants from the creek impacting beaches in Santa Monica, Venice, Playa Del Rey and other Westside spots.
Mitchell added that the Interceptor "couldn’t have come at a better time," as the pilot period included abnormal rainstorm seasons in the County, including a late 2022-early 2023 period of atmospheric rivers. In February 2023, Los Angeles recorded 8.51 inches of rain in a three-day stretch, the second-wettest such period in the city’s history.
County Department of Public Works Director Mark Pestrella stated that the pilot period had four main categories of performance measures: Operational effectiveness, community acceptance, impact on the environment and impact on education about beach and ocean health.
Operational effectiveness was measured in part to see if the "one of one" device could remain operational throughout the year, particularly in the face of storms, and Pestrella stated the Interceptor was "in place and operational" through 90% of the pilot period.
"We have no other devices that we use at the end of our rivers that can actually operate that amount of time … the Interceptor is designed to actually ride out major storms" Pestrella said. "It made out [of] these significant storms in the last two years … [it] even rode out one storm event that produced 18,000 cubic feet per second running down Ballona Creek. That’s like 18,000 basketballs running by every second, and each basketball weighing about 62 pounds. The forces that were acting upon it [were] significant, and from an operational effectiveness perspective, it did an amazing job."
Public comment was similarly positive, with Playa Del Rey-based nonprofit Friends of the Jungle Executive Director Lucy Han calling the Interceptor a "godsend."
"We go to the beach every day, and after every storm, there is crap all over our beach," Han said. "But with this Interceptor, we have such a cleaner beach."
The Interceptor is slated to be temporarily removed from the creek for service and upgrades, and is planned to be back in Ballona for the upcoming Southern California storm season.
thomas@smdp.com
