Would You Swim in Baltimore's Inner Harbor?

A trash-collecting machine capable of picking up 50,000 pounds of trash a day was unveiled this week between Pier 5 and Pier 6 in Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

The Waterfront Partnership—a coalition to make Baltimore's waterfront more livable and beautiful—helped bring the "water wheel" to fruition.

Waterfront Partnership President Laurie Schwartz called the water wheel a "big step toward a swimmable, fishable harbor," according to The Baltimore Sun.

Powered by sunlight and water, the wheel rakes in trash using booms that are placed in the water, according to WBAL. Then it puts the refuse on a conveyor belt, which takes it to a dumpster that is emptied periodically.

The Inner Harbor is under scrutiny from the Environmental Protection Agency due to the state of its water, according to The Baltimore Sun, which reported the harbor was one of three waterways in the country designated as "impaired."

Several factors like nitrogen, phosphorus and toxicants were noted as factors in the negative health of the harbor in the most recent "State of the Harbor Report," which called out trash as equally problematic.

To fix the problem, the Waterfront Partnership and government agencies have teamed up to launch the Healthy Harbor Plan, an initiative to make the Inner Harbor swimmable by 2020.

The water wheel will help to improve conditions, as trash from streets in Baltimore City and Baltimore County flows into storm drains and then gets pushed into the harbor during rains.

The Maryland Port Administration and Constellation Energy shared the $800,000 cost of the water wheel, according to WBAL.

The port administration provided $500,000 with Constellation picking up $300,000, the Baltimore Business Journal reported.

Annual operating costs are $100,000, and the Waterfront Partnership will help cover some, The Baltimore Sun reported, 

"We still have a long way to go," Schwartz told WJZ. "But this is one big step."