Litter boom at Woodlawn Lake catches 168 pounds of trash after rainfall

A $10,000 litter boom installed last Friday at Woodlawn Lake is catching trash from Alazan Creek before it washes further into the lake.

After heavy rainfall, workers pulled 168 pounds garbage from the trap on Thursday.

Crews with River Aid San Antonio cleared the floating trash trap, sorting through everything from a painting to furniture.

“The craziest things to deal with is all the furniture and bikes that get tied together with like wires or with Christmas lights,” said Victoria Gomez, operations manager for River Aid San Antonio.

Gomez said the group is doing more than hauling away debris.

“We got to do something about it, and we’re not just picking up the trash we’re keeping track of where it came from,” Gomez said.

The trash collected did not reach the lake itself, it was caught further upstream.

Vanessa Carter, project coordinator for River Aid San Antonio said the difference is already visible.

“When I got here I looked downstream and the ducks were just floating in clean water,” she said.

River Aid San Antonio and the city installed this boom and two others in Salado Creek. Five more are coming to help reach the organization’s goal of waste-free waterways citywide.

“Parks are one of the few places left that you can go and not have to immediately pay for something and so that’s it’s nice that it’s getting cleaner for people,” said Carter.

Two people spent a couple of hours on the cleanup, and without the boom, leaders say it would have taken 10 people and a lot longer.

More of this story on KSAT:

• Woodlawn Lake’s new floating litter boom aims to keep trash at bay