City of Newport Beach to host groundbreaking ceremony for the Newport Bay Trash Interceptor

The City of Newport Beach will host a groundbreaking event to kick off construction of the Newport Bay Trash Interceptor, a $5.5 million, sustainably powered system to collect floating trash before it enters the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve, Newport Harbor and beaches. 

The ceremony takes place on Friday, Sept. 15 at 1 p.m. at 3300 Jamboree Road (at San Diego Creek just upstream from the Upper Newport Bay Nature Preserve), Newport Beach.

Newport Beach Mayor Noah Blom and other elected officials will give short speeches at the project site. Newport Beach City Councilmembers will join state and county elected officials and project partners in a golden shovel photo opp.

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Rendering courtesy of City of Newport Beach/CCC

A rendering of the trash-collecting water wheel proposed for San Diego Creek, near Upper Newport Bay

Every year, hundreds of tons of floating trash and debris enter Newport Bay via San Diego Creek. The City of Newport Beach is building a sustainably powered system to collect as much as 80 percent of this floating trash and debris before it pollutes the bay, harbor and ocean beaches. The $5.5 million Newport Bay Trash Interceptor will supplement other city trash-reduction efforts already in place, such as trash booms, catch basin collection systems and floating skimmers. This July, the City Council awarded the $3.9 million construction contract to Brea-based Jilk Heavy Construction, Inc. Construction is expected to be completed by December 2024.