The Middle Nolichucky Watershed Alliance learned Thursday that an official at Tusculum College is interested in a multi-year project to reduce the amount of stormwater runoff that gets into College Creek.

The Watershed Alliance board was also told that the Tennessee Department of Transportation plans to do some remedial work to reduce the amount of runoff that gets into College Creek from U.S. Highway 11E, which crosses the creek about a half-mile north of the campus.

Paul Hayden, soil conservationist with the Greene County Soil Conservation District, told the Alliance board on Thursday that he met last week with Tommy Doughty, the school's facilities manager. He said he had a separate meeting with four TDOT engineers regarding the proposed improvements on 11E.

Currently, Hayden said, Tusculum College has very little in the way of structures that would slow or retain stormwater on campus.

One retention structure built a few years ago captures runoff from a four-building apartment complex on the south side of the campus, Hayden noted. But he said the retention structure is small and does not hold the water for very long.

Except for that one structure, just about all the water that falls on the campus is diverted "instantly into the creek," he said.

At an upcoming community meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 26, he said, he will present a slide show about some of the improvements he would like to make along College Creek. The slide show will also focus on what progress has been made.

The public - and especially landowners along College Creek - are encouraged to attend, he said.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in Room 108 of the lower level of the Tusculum College library.

Will Try For Grant

College Creek is one of about 60 creeks in Greene County that are considered not to meet current federal and state pollution standards. The main reason for their pollution problems is siltation.

The Greene County Soil Conservation District has received a grant from the Tennessee Department of Agriculture to use in preparing an application for a larger federal Environmental Protection Agency "319 program" grant.

Hayden has said he is applying for about a $500,000 EPA grant.

If the district receives the EPA grant, it will pay use the money to pay 75 percent of the cost of remediation projects. The landowner - in this case the college - will pay 25 percent.

Part of the federal application process is the preparation of a "watershed action plan" for the area the grant will serve - in this case College Creek, which is also called Frank Creek, depending on location.

Last Friday, Tusculum College students helped with data collection along College Creek that will be used in a database to support the EPA grant application.

The goal is to improve College Creek enough that it can be removed from a state list of "impaired" creeks.

According to a Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation document, College Creek is impaired because of siltation - earth that washes into the creek as a result of nearby pasture grazing and land development.

Use Of Cisterns Proposed

Hayden said he proposed an idea for Tusculum that has worked successfully in Chattanooga, where underground cisterns capture rainwater for later use.

He said a system of modular cisterns made of precast concrete can be installed in a deep hole in the ground and then covered with a relatively thin layer of dirt on which grass is sown. Once installed, he said, few people would realize the cisterns are there.

Hayden said he proposed using water captured in these cisterns to water the college's football field, baseball field, and other athletic fields, at a considerable savings to the college.

Cisterns were proposed in Hayden's plan to serve three major areas: the baseball stadium, the field house area, and the front part of the campus.

In addition to possibly installing the three cisterns, Hayden said the college is interested in constructing some "rain gardens," smaller areas designed to capture rain and release it gradually.

In addition, some stream-bank stabilization using trees is being considered.

Hayden said he and Doughty will work out a plan and a "payback schedule" by which the proposed improvements can pay for themselves in a specified amount of time.

Talks In Planning Stages

In a telephone interview with The Greeneville Sun on Thursday afternoon, Doughty, the Tusculum facilities manager, said his talks with Hayden are still in the planning stages.

He said he plans to present a proposed plan to Tusculum College's board of trustees at the board's next meeting.

Doughty said the college does not have a good set of plans to show how stormwater drains off campus at the present time. That information will be needed, he said, in order for the college to take advantage of what he called "a pretty good opportunity."

As noted above, if the EPA grant is approved, the government will pay for 75 percent of any work done.

As a result, Doughty said, containment structures could be built at a substantial savings "if the college chooses to do so."

Doughty said Tusculum currently irrigates the football stadium field, the baseball field, two practice soccer fields and softball fields with utility water purchased from the Greeneville Water Commission.

Collected stormwater would be better for irrigation because it is not chlorinated, he said. He also noted that not having to purchase city drinking water for the irrigation would help the college financially.

In addition, he said, not having to provide so much water for irrigation would help the Greeneville Water Commission conserve its capacity.

Doughty said he and Hayden are trying to come up with cost figures for what is planned, so that he can make a complete presentation to the college trustees that will show how long it would take to pay back the college's investment, if the board decided to approve the project.

Hayden said Altamont Environmental Engineering, of Asheville, N.C., will provide the primary design services for the preliminary planning.

"I'm excited about it," Doughty said. "I think it's going to help us (Tusculum College) save money, plus being good for our neighbors and for the environment."

TDOT Visit

Hayden said his meeting with TDOT engineers who visited Greeneville last Friday mainly focused on the issue of runoff from parking lots along U.S. Highway 11E.

He said that, after that meeting, he came away with the impression that a financial partnership with TDOT is possible to deal with some of the problems that were identified.

Hayden said some state money can be "rerouted" to those projects, if approvals can be obtained. Some of that money could be applied to the "match" on the federal EPA grant, if everything works out, Hayden said.

He said TDOT is interested in doing some remedial work because the state agency gets "environmental credits" for taking such actions.

He said that adding one more water retention pond was discussed, along with carrying out several diversion projects that would slow the flow of water to the creek.