Skimming Along - and Cleaning SoCal Marinas
Taylor Hill
The Log
09/15/2011
Louis Pasoz, a San Diego native with a penchant for surrounding himself with water, is working on a way to make it cleaner.
“I’m a surfer, and so are my kids — and we spend a lot of our time in the water looking at trash,” Pasoz said.
While surfing provided his introduction to the relationship between water and trash, Pasoz became immersed in the subject when, at 18, he took a job at a Los Angeles County wastewater treatment facility. He worked his way up over the years and eventually became a plant operator. The county covered his schooling costs, and Pasoz took engineering classes that helped him further understand the process of water treatment.
“The county of Los Angeles was always very generous about my education, and I received a lot of engineering training because of that,” he said.
One day, while having lunch with his wife at a restaurant at Long Beach’s Rainbow Harbor, Pasoz watched workers clean up some debris from a section of the harbor. And shortly after that, he witnessed more debris gather in the same location.
“You could see the debris being brought in by the currents,” Pasoz said. “I knew there had to be a better way to gather it and hold it.”
After some drawings and a few prototypes, Pasoz came up with the Marina Trash Skimmer; a floating container fastened to the side of a dock that circulates water through its system and traps floating debris inside — operating seven days a week, 24 hours a day.
He tested the product in Long Beach, getting the backing of then-Marine Bureau manager Dick Miller to try the skimmer at various locations around the harbor for several years.
Over the next decade, Pasoz patented his invention, created his own business — Applied Water Technologies — and teamed up with Bellingham, Wash.-based Marine Accessories Inc. (MAI), which is now the licensed seller and distributor of the product.
Currently, Pasoz has four skimmers in San Diego, one in Long Beach, two in Dana Point Harbor, one in Cabo San Lucas, one in Bellingham and one in Oregon.
Earlier this year, AMEC Earth & Environmental Inc. released the first year’s findings of a two-year ongoing report for the Port of San Diego’s trash skimmers. The skimmers were placed in “trouble spots” around the bay where debris regularly gathered, with Harbor Island West Marina (the skimmer was later moved to Cabrillo Isle Marina), Pier 32 Marina, Point Loma Marina and Half Moon Marina being used.
So far, the results have been positive for the skimmer, with marinas reporting thousands of gallons of trash and debris collected over an eight-month period.
“We saw an immediate impact in the area surrounding the skimmer location,” said Half Moon Marina manager Brad Oliver. “We would find a large debris field after a rainstorm. But, the skimmer worked like a charm — and due to how efficiently it runs, it had most of the debris gone after a day or two.”
While no quantitative measurements of water quality were taken during the trial run, observations of the marina’s water quality were made, and a noticeable difference in the water’s clarity was noted in the report.
In Dana Point, similar testing is under way, and Dana Point Harbor director Brad Gross said he likes what he has seen so far.
“We got the first one as a test unit about two years ago, as part of our water quality improvement program — and it’s been working so well, we bought a second unit and installed it about eight months ago,” Gross said.
Gross estimates the skimmers have removed about 8 tons of debris from the harbor over the last two years.
“They are relatively low maintenance, and they work 24 hours a day,” Gross said. “The only time it shuts off is when it’s full, and we have staff come by and empty them every couple of days.”
With the harbor looking so much better, Gross has decided to apply for a grant through OCTA to install six more skimmers in Orange County harbors: four in Dana Point, one in Newport Harbor and one in Huntington Harbour.
The application has made it to the top three grant applications submitted, and Gross is expecting to hear back soon about whether he needs to find new locations to put skimmers.
“Every harbor has collection corners,” Gross said. “What you need to do when installing a trash skimmer is figure out how to secure it and how to power it — and make sure you can get to it to regularly clean it out.”
Pasoz hopes that the Port of San Diego’s AMEC report and Dana Point’s grant application submittal are the start of getting skimmers in every harbor in California.
While many harbors may not be willing to fund the base price of $9,600 per unit, the long-term and short-term benefits can make it worth the cost, he said. With the machine working all day and night while using a minimal amount of electricity, harbors can reduce staff hours spent chasing and collecting debris around the harbor.
And the long-term effects of not removing debris can cost marinas, in the future.
“If it doesn’t get removed, a lot of this debris sinks and settles on the marina floor,” Pasoz said. “This can result in a huge added expense in dredging costs for marinas that have been contaminated by debris and pollution. Why wait for the debris to make it to the bottom?”
Along with the skimmer’s ability to catch floating debris, Pasoz installs bilge pads in the units to soak up oil sheens that often plague marinas and fuel docks. In Dana Point, Gross makes sure the pads are regularly switched out to ensure that the skimmers are doing their part.
