The effort to launch a clean-up project on the Trinity River is far from over, according to Fort Worth city leaders.
The city was fundraising for a water wheel that would be a permanent fixture in the river to scoop up garbage, called the Trinity River Waterwheel Initiative. The project drew inspiration and guidance from the Trash Wheel of Baltimore, Maryland, which launched over 10 years ago to keep the Inner Harbor clean.
But the efforts to launch a trash collecting device in Fort Worth fell just $500,000 short of their $2 million goal to start construction.
“The project is sort of on pause to allow us to reevaluate any funding options and to continue to fundraise until we can maybe go out for bid again to fully fund the project,” said Fort Worth environmental services director Cody Whittenburg in an interview with NBC 5.
Get top local stories in DFW delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC DFW's News Headlines newsletter.
He said inflation and other economic challenges impacted their fundraising.
“The real challenge for this particular project is really those economic drivers. We have seen the cost of material going up with not just this project, but all projects related to just the economy of construction,” Whittenburg said. “I think we've all seen the impacts of cost drivers in our daily lives and across the entire sphere of city services. So, we're certainly looking at all of those challenges and trying to find a new path forward for that funding.”
Whittenburg said his team is not giving up hope. He said they believe the water wheel will be an important solution to address pollution in the future, as major projects like Panther Island and other growth continues along the Trinity River.
Local
The latest news from around North Texas.
"We want to try to be that last line of defense to collect litter and materials that are going into the river, and hopefully help to get it out so it doesn't continue to go downstream, or into the ecosystem,” said Whittenburg. "So we hope that we can continue to look for those funding opportunities and keep the project advancing."
Since the project timeline changed, the city offered refunds to donors out of good faith. But Whittenburg said told so far, most major donors are keeping donations in the water wheel project to see it through.
Fort Worth still has the link up on the city website to collect community donations for the water wheel as they work out a new project timeline. Click here for more information on donating.
