Hardware projects fail when they meet reality. So we're going to meet reality on purpose, in a creek 2 meters wide, for 3 months.
The site. The first interceptor goes into the Antequera arroyo — a small waterway, more creek than river, shallow in places, two meters across at the install point. It's right next to the rowing club, which gives it three useful properties:
- It's the same waterway where the previous failed attempt happened. Local context is well-documented; we know what didn't work.
- I row on it. Continuous human eyes on the prototype, multiple times per week.
- It's small enough to be manageable as a pilot, but real enough that what works here generalizes.
The plan. 3-month pilot. Install. Monitor constantly. Clean. Iterate.
What success looks like
- Catches trash, measurably (counted, weighed, categorized)
- Can be cleared easily — operators should be able to lift the captured material out without specialized equipment
- Doesn't break under normal conditions
- Survives water-level rises and falls. Rainy season is starting; the creek will swell and shrink unpredictably. The interceptor has to live through it.
What could go wrong (in order of probability)
- Material failure. Wrong choice of column or net material → the structure fails under load.
- Bad installation. This is what killed the previous attempt at the rowing club — the interceptor flooded the club itself. We have to anchor it correctly, position it correctly, and respect the hydrology.
- Heavy rain + heavy debris. A flood with a tree trunk in it can wreck almost any small interceptor. We need to design for graceful failure, not perfect performance.
- Theft. Other Paraguayan attempts had their interceptors literally stolen. Anti-theft is a design constraint, not an afterthought.
Permits. We need municipal authorization. We have a contact who can help present the project. Cautiously optimistic.
Cost. We're estimating under €2,000 for the first prototype. Funding is the open question — looking for international grants and Paraguayan corporate sponsors. If you're either of those, we're listening.
Next post: what happens to the trash once we catch it. Hint: some of it becomes a park bench.