Article: No logjams on this job River Skimmer helps keep downtown waterway clear of debris

By DON BEHM

The day after a storm blows through the city, the Milwaukee River looks more like the parking lot after a game at Miller Park than a scenic stream.

Food containers, beverage cups, plastic bottles and bags, straws, a large blue plastic barrel and assorted trash mingle in the current flowing past downtown bridges and boat docks.

There are tree branches, trunks and stumps bobbing at the surface of the coffee-colored water, surrounded by urban flotsam and jetsam as small as a golf ball and as large as a lawn chair.

Sweeping it all up is the work of the River Skimmer, a city- operated vessel that's done the task a few days a week with little fanfare since 1998, collecting 60 cubic ...

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