Members of the Middle Nolichucky Watershed Alliance (MNWA) heard Thursday about grants totaling more than $2.3 million being sought to make improvements to four creeks in Greene County.

Greene County Soil Conservationist Paul Hayden said all of the grants are being sought from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the section 319 program of the Clean Water Act.

The waterways for which help is being sought over the next five years are: College Creek, Holley Creek, Richland Creek, and Little Chucky Creek.

Part of the funding is already in hand for College Creek, which flows south out of Greeneville, through Tusculum and Tusculum College on its way to the Nolichucky River, Hayden said.

Two College Creek "best management practice" projects have already been done, Hayden said.

One was streambank stabilization at Tusculum Body Shop on Rufe Taylor Road, where the creek was close to undermining the building until extensive repairs were made recently.

The other involved installation of 550 feet of fencing to keep cows out of the creek on the Davis Farm on Browns Bridge Road

Allowing cattle to drink directly from a creek erodes the bank over time, putting sediment in the creek, and also allows bovine feces and urine to enter the waterway.

Fencing, along with a vegetative buffer along the creek, and an alternative water source (even water pumped from the creek) protects water quality.

Three other College Creek projects are in the design phase, being worked on by Altamont Environmental Inc., an Asheville, N.C. engineering and hydrology firm.

Those projects are:

* retrofitting the retention pond at Ingles food market on U.S. Highway 11E at Rufe Taylor Road, next to the creek;

* a retention pond at the entrance to The Meadows subdivision on Old Tusculum Road, and

* "rain harvesting" at Tusculum College.

Hayden said the "rain harvesting" project has not yet been presented to the college's board. It would involve collecting rain from roofs and parking lots, and storing it in a series of underground tanks for later use watering athletic fields during dry periods. Hayden said this type of system has been shown to be less costly over time than buying utility water.

Fiscal year 2008 plans for College Creek call for $141,575 in grant funds and $95,525 in local matching funds. Plans for fiscal year 2009 on College Creek call for $108,000 in grant funds and $72,000 in matching funds.

Hayden said that although the Soil Conservation District will contract with the EPA, owners of property where projects are located will be asked to pay the entire cost up front, with 75 percent of that cost later reimbursed when the EPA pays the district, according to a prearranged schedule.

The landower's 25 percent share of the total cost is part of the local match, and the soil conservation district and its partners will be responsible for another 15 percent of the total, he said.

Most of the "matches" are now being made in the form of "in-kind" services provided by the Soil Conservation District, the college and the MNWA, rather than money, Hayden said.

In addition to the Middle Nolichucky Watershed Alliance, other agencies that are "partnering" with the Soil Conservation District on the grants are the Natural Resources Conservation Service, TVA, the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA), the Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Hayden said.

He said two adult volunteers have come forward to help Dan Barnett, an environmental science professor at Tusculum College, supplement creek monitoring being done by some of his students.

However, if the other grants are approved, considerably more volunteer hours will be needed.

Wally Akins, a TWRA official based in Knoxville who covers similar efforts in 37 counties, said he would investigate the possibility of having TWRA summer interns help with the effort.

Hayden said the first College Creek grant was sought on an annual basis. Since then, rules have changed, and the other three creek grants are being sought as five-year grants (for fiscal year 2009-2014) that will not have to be applied for again each year, if awarded.

The grant being sought for Holley Creek is for $678,900, of which $271,560 would be a local "match." Holley Creek begins near Snapps Ferry Road, and flows under U.S. Highway 11E and then behind Kmart and Belk's in the Greeneville Commons.

The Richland Creek grant would be for $780,628, of which $312,251 would be the local match. Richland Creek flows through downtown Greeneville, with one branch originating at the Big Spring behind the library, and another roughly paralleling Bernard Avenue.

The Little Chucky Creek grant would be for $445,00, of which $178,000 would come from a local match.

Dana Vaughn, a Tennessee Valley Authority watershed coordinator and former president of the MNWA, said Little Chucky Creek begins near Mosheim's Town Hall and flows southwest, entering the Nolichucky River near Warrensburg. It is close to, but separate from, Lick Creek, she said.

Akins asked how grant participants will be selected. Hayden said some of the College Creek participants came to a public meeting held last year at the college, and another meeting will be held there this spring. The farm owner "contacted me," he added.

Hayden said he has surveyed the other creeks and taken pictures of locations where improvements would help stream quality. He said he has obtained names and phone numbers of property owners, but will not approach anyone until grants have been approved.

Hayden said that once the College Creek grant was in hand, he went to the owner of Tusculum Body Shop and proposed a solution to the problem there, which the owner, Bob Lamb, enthusiastically accepted.