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Aquarius Systems is the world’s leading producer of surface water management equipment. For 60 years, the company has engineered, manufactured, and sold aquatic plant harvesters, marine debris skimmers and other unique water maintenance machinery from its base in North Prairie, Wisconsin. Aquarius Systems has equipment installations across the United States and in 50 countries worldwide.
More recently, Aquarius Systems received an SBIR grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to develop a new stationary aquatic trash skimmer. Named the TrashVeyor, the prototype just went into service and will be tested for an entire season on the highly urbanized Kinnickinnic River in Milwaukee. Working in cooperation with The Harbor District and the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District, the autonomous machine will operate 24/7 to remove floating debris from the water’s surface. In its first week of operation, it collected over 6,000 pounds of natural debris mixed with a variety of plastics, tennis shoes, aluminum cans, cups, balls, hypodermic needles and even a papier-mâché elephant!
So far, the machine is proving to be an effective Structural Best Management Practice (BMP) for stormwater management, acting as an interceptor to prevent the pollutants from reaching Lake Michigan. The goal is to have the TrashVeyor commercially available within 18 months.
