Neabsco Creek Trash Trap

There was be a Ribbon Cutting on Wednesday, November 17th 2021 at 10 a.m. at Neabsco Eagles Park 15801 Neabsco Road; Woodbridge Virginia 22191 for the new Neabsco Creek Trash Trap that will  capture trash in the creek.

Images from PWSWCD

For the last 20 years volunteers lead and inspired by Lynda Sylvastrand have cleaned the stream and streambeds of trash that started as litter and carried along by stormwater and wind into the waterway. They also removed items that were illegally dumped or carried by off by storms year after year. This led to the Woodbridge Potomac Communities Civic Association's (WPCCA) engagement with the Adopt-A-Stream program.

Micron Technology Inc. was the major supporter to Prince William County Public Works in this project. The Woodbridge Potomac Communities Civic Association (WPCCA), Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition and all the Conservation District's Water Quality partners and volunteers for presenting convincing data in support of this project in the community.

During 2016-2017, Prince William County, Virginia, sponsored a study of the upper portion of the Neabsco Creek watershed. The Neabsco Creek Watershed Study is one in a series of watershed studies conducted by Prince William County’s Department of Public Works, Watershed Management section. The studies were intended to aid in planning watershed restoration projects to help the County address existing degradation streams and watershed resources and to make progress toward the countywide mandated (By DEQ and the EPA) pollutant reduction targets for nitrogen, phosphorus, and sediment under the Chesapeake Bay Clean Water Blueprint (formerly known as the TMDL). Strangely enough, as they are planning restoration of Neabsco Creek they are also planning to develop the Occoquan Watershed and damage that. The Board of County Supervisors seemed to have failed to learn from the mistakes of the past.

The Neabsco Creek watershed has been highly developed for many decades.  More than half of the Neabsco Creek watershed is developed land, ranging from low-density residential to high-density commercial. Insufficient stormwater infrastructure and loss of natural land cover have damaged water quality and caused stream habitat degradation. Fortunately, we are not drinking the Neabsco Creek, but the trash and pollutants are carried through the watershed to the Chesapeake Bay.

According to the Neabsco Creek Watershed report: “Studies have shown a negative correlation between the percentage of a watershed's drainage area that is covered in impervious surfaces and the health of the watershed's streams (e.g., Giddings et al. 2009; Schueler et al. 2009).”  Surfaces impervious to rain and surface runoff like hard or paved surfaces and the roofs of buildings prevent natural infiltration of stormwater into the ground. The water instead hits the hard surface and flows faster downhill across the landscape, carrying with it any contaminants that it encounters. “The higher speed and volume of water can damage the land through erosion, especially along stream banks when the runoff finally reaches the streams. High, forceful flows in the waterways also alter stream habitat and the changes can be significant enough to cause long-term habitat destruction and poor stream health.”

The extent of development in a watershed impacts stream health. Development results in increased impervious surface area, as new roads are built to access new buildings. Urbanization and industrial development  brings a variety of pollutant sources such as oils, paints, salts, loose sediment, and other contaminants which are deposited on the impervious surfaces. Rainwater then washes these materials and other contaminants (e.g., heavy metals, pesticides, fertilizers, etc) from the land into nearby streams, either directly or through the storm drain network.

Watersheds with less impervious surface are more likely to have better local stream water quality than watersheds with more impervious surface (Giddings et al. 2009; Schueler et al. 2009). Urban development brings increased impervious surface to the watershed. “Schueler, et al. (2009)provided a model based on studies linking stream condition … to the … amount of impervious cover. The researchers noted that watersheds with 10-25 % impervious cover often have negatively affected streams; typical characteristics include clear signs of degradation such as erosion, channel widening, and a decline in habitat quality. Watersheds with 25 to 60 % impervious cover generally have damaged streams; these streams exhibit fair to poor water quality, unstable channels, severe erosion, and an inability to support aquatic life and provide habitat.”

Due to concerns about flooding, the county designated Resource Protection Areas (RPAs) throughout the county to encompass and help to protect floodplains along streams. Vegetation management programs for the RPAs are intended to buffer the streams from the effects of storm runoff flows and restrict development that would eliminate the protective environment and the natural flow patterns for the streams. Ditches also appear along major roadways; these typically manage stormwater flow from the pavement, but also serve to convey the trash. Some of the lands draining to headwaters in the Neabsco Creek watershed have networks of ditches and culverts; that were installed to control floodwaters, but also carry trash and pollution to the creek. Thus, we need the trash trap.

Cleaning Up the Oceans

The world depends on healthy oceans. However, the oceans and marine environment are being threatened by ever increasing amounts of trash flowing into the ocean, particularly from China and a few other Asian countries.

Image from NOAA

Roughly 80% of marine debris comes from land-based sources: littering, dumping, storm waste discharges and extreme natural events. Five countries in Asia—China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam—account for over half of the plastic waste placed into the ocean. A recent study estimates up to 95% of plastic waste transported by major rivers starts from just 10 rivers—eight of them located in Asia, with the top polluting rivers being in China. It is to be recalled; however, that until 2017 China was the largest market that accepted recycled products from the United States so our waste has to some extent contributed to their problems.

Scientists estimate that more than 9,000 million metric tons of virgin plastics have been produced since the dawn of the age of plastics and found that around 9% of which had been recycled, 12% was incinerated, and 79% was accumulated in landfills or the natural environment. The amount of plastic waste keeps growing and proper management of that waste has not kept up. The United States is better than many at managing waste, today; but we need to improve our recycling our plastic and reduce our use of plastics. The United States still generate too much litter and storm carried trash. Year after year volunteers clean our roadways, streams, rivers, and streambeds of trash that started as litter and are carried along by stormwater and wind into our waterways.

To truly solve this problem on an international level, we must prevent trash from entering the earth’s waterways in the first place. All treaties among nations must include environmental clauses beyond carbon reduction. Earlier this month the U.S. EPA unveiled the U.S. Strategy for Addressing the Global Issue of Marine Litter, which provides a strategic model to prevent and reduce waste from entering our oceans. The U.S. EPA has developed a set of waste management recommendations that address the global marine litter problem, with a focus on four pillars:

1. Building capacity for better waste and litter management systems, through improving infrastructure, government coordination, and public education and engagement.
2.  Incentivizing the global recycling market in partnership with the private sector.
3. Promoting research and development for innovative solutions and technology.
4. Promoting marine litter removal, including litter capture systems in seas, rivers and inland waterways.

EPA modeled their international outreach on the Trash Free Waters  program  designed to address the marine litter problems by using these pillars to create a framework that specifically addresses national and local needs while working to protect the planet as a whole. Trash Free Waters International brings together national and local governments, communities, NGOs, and the private sector to identify marine litter problems and prioritize interventions that are cost-effective, practical and impactful.

Although the Trash Free Waters program began here in the United States, marine litter exists everywhere, and economically developing countries especially need experienced assistance that the United States can provide. As a result, Trash Free Waters has expanded its mission to other nations in the Western Hemisphere. Projects in Jamaica, Panama and Peru are providing national governments with practical steps to understand and address the marine litter issue holistically, including how waste is managed, identifying gaps within their waste management systems, and prioritizing project implementation.

These countries are leveraging the help EPA has offered to develop and improve local trash collection and recycling systems, raise community awareness, and implement educational programs in schools. All approaches that have worked in the United States. The goal is to move from pilot international programs to implementation worldwide.   The Trash Free Waters stakeholder-based process helps attract larger investments critical to establishing an economically sustainable and environmentally sound waste management system.

Solving the marine litter problem requires a global and comprehensive approach that includes the public sector, the private sector, NGOs, and society at-large. EPA has been working with other federal agencies to engage countries through a number of international settings like the G7 and G20 Environmental Ministers’ meetings, the North American Commission on Environmental Cooperation, the Cartagena Convention’s Land Based Sources Protocol and the United Nations Environment Assembly. Expanding these partnerships and sharing ideas to find better ways to prevent and reduce marine waste to protect human health and our shared oceans.