County plans flood controls

Web posted October 23, 2000

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 Priject proposals

By Jason B. Smith
Columbia County Bureau

Columbia County Engineer Jim Leiper (left) and Engineering Manager John Burnham tour the diversion canal at the end of Reed Creek. Officials want to use part of a federal grant to expand the canal, a source of flooding problems. JIM BLAYLOCK/STAFF

It is here, in the woods beside a gravel parking lot at Savannah Rapids Pavilion, that Columbia County's flooding problems come to life.

On most days, this creek - actually the end of Reed Creek, a waterway plagued by flooding problems - bubbles quietly toward the Augusta Canal.

But add a few inches of rain, and the bottleneck begins. Add enough rain and Reed Creek backs up over Stevens Creek Road, drowning the bridge and threatening nearby apartments.

And it is here - where Reed Creek has cut a canyon toward the canal - that Columbia County officials are hoping to use a $4.5 million federal grant. They want to use part of the money to build a new bridge at Stevens Creek Road and part of the money to dig a better channel, commonly referred to as the diversion canal, for the end of Reed Creek.

``In places you don't have a slope, you need more area,'' County Engineer Jim Leiper said. ``You need to give the water a lot more room to flow through.''

Projects such as this will be the focus of the recently adopted stormwater utility. However, the program has been immersed in controversy since mid-September. At the center of the controversy is the monthly fee, assessed on property in the eastern part of Columbia County. The fee is based on the amount of impervious surface - anything water does not run into - on the property.

Officials say the monthly fee could generate about $1 million a year. They already have a list of about 40 projects - ranging from regional sedimentation ponds to stream bank stabilization projects to pipe replacements - for that money.

Officials have split the list into five main areas: $3.6 million for stream bank stabilization; $570,000 for pipe replacement; $2.4 million for sedimentation control facilities; $1.3 million for retention ponds; and $4 million for miscellaneous projects.

The multimillion-dollar list has been culled from years of residents' concerns and county engineers looking at problem areas.

``We get new projects brought to our attention every day, especially now that we have the fee,'' County Commissioner Diane Ford said.

Now, Mr. Leiper and other county employees are prioritizing the list to try to get the most impact for stormwater utility dollars.

``We need to look at the cost benefit before we undertake some of the higher cost projects,'' Mr. Leiper said.

One area already earmarked as a stormwater utility project is Mullins Pond - 22 acres of water and land next to Club Car between Washington and Old Evans roads.

The county bought the pond and surrounding land for $400,000 in March. Eventually, the pond will be used as a retention area - holding water before it reaches the heavily developed, and more flood-prone, areas along Blue Ridge Drive, The Pass and Fury's Ferry Road.

``It's not going to be a project that solves all our problems,'' Mr. Leiper said. ``Even with the size we have there, it's not adequate to control all the stormwater that's generated upstream of that pond.''

But first, the county has to repair the Old Evans Road dam of the pond, which has leaking cracks and huge hardwoods.

``It's a safety issue,'' Mr. Leiper said.

After that project is finished, officials can turn their attention to the most expensive aspect of Mullins Pond: dredging the years of silt, sand and dirt carried in by Reed Creek. Parts of the pond that once were under several feet of water now have grass and bushes growing on them.

``After that, we'll have better tempering of the storm flow,'' Mr. Leiper said. ``I hope.''

Stormwater fee money also will help the county shore up some stream banks, such as the one that runs behind Toye Watts' home in Holiday Park subdivision off Columbia Road. He has watched the creek eat away at his back yard for years and has fought the erosion with yard trimmings, crossties and large stones.

``The crossties have held it back some,'' he said. ``It's holding up pretty good.''

But the creek still has caused the foundation of his backyard pool to crack, and the work to stop the erosion put Mr. Watts in the hospital with a hernia earlier this year.

Mr. Watts said he doesn't mind the monthly fee as long as he begins to see people working in his back yard.

``I'm still waiting on the county to come back and start,'' he said, adding that if nothing does happen he might look at taking legal action. ``With what all I've lost in the last four or five years is $3,000 or $4,000.''

Aside from the monthly fee, county leaders are looking at ways to plan for the effects of future development on stormwater systems.

One way is to use a series of maps and models of stream basins to gauge the impact of a certain development along the entire stream. For example, if a developer wants to build a 100-acre subdivision near the source of Crawford Creek, the effects of that development downstream are a couple of mouse-clicks and calculations away.

``We're able to see what the impact would be at any point in the watershed downstream from the development before the development is put there,'' Mr. Leiper said. ``We can also see what impact controls ... would have.''

Project proposals

A sampling of projects that could come under the stormwater utility:

Stream bank stabilization: $3,578,000 - Betty's Branch in Chimney Hill subdivision, Holiday Park, Halifax East, Wynngate tributary, Betty's Branch, Crawford Creek

Storm drain pipe replacements: $568,500

Sedimentation collection facilities: $2,414,000 - Columbia Industrial Drive, Bowen Pond, Reed Creek at Fury's Ferry Road

Retention ponds: $1,287,000 - Oak Lake near Food Lion, Mullins Pond, Applecross, others

Miscellaneous: $4,050,000 - Foxfire Place and West Lake work, Reed Creek, Washington Road

Reach Jason B. Smith at (706) 868-1222, Ext. 115.

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