Approval has been given for a $141,575 grant to clean College Creek in Tusculum, Greene County Soil Conservationist Paul Hayden said Thursday.

He told the Middle Nolichucky Watershed Alliance that the Environmental Protection Agency Section 319 stream improvement program grant was approved by Dr. Sam Marshall, the state water-quality project manager in Nashville, and by the local soil conservation district board.

To be final, the grant “only needs to be signed by the commissioner of agriculture, Ken Givens,” Hayden said. He said he had been told that Givens could sign it as early as Thursday.

The grant is administered through the Tennessee Department of Agriculture.
Tom Womack, the department’s public affairs officer, confirmed late Thursday by email that the grant had been signed by Commissioner Givens.

“As far as we’re concerned, it’s a done deal at the department level, and final approval is imminent,” he said.

“These are Section 319 funds from the U.S.
EPA and administered through our Water Resources program to help improve water quality by addressing nonpoint source pollution from urban and/or agriculural
runoff,” Womack wrote.

Last September, Tusculum College students helped with data collection related to the grant application. Hayden had applied for a
$500,000 grant.

College Creek (also known as Frank Creek in some locations) is one of about 60 creeks in Greene County that fail to meet current state and federal pollution standards.

Most of those creeks fail to meet the standards because they are polluted from runoff into the creeks.

Runoff is typically either from agriculture, whether from erosion sediment or from animal waste, or from oil and dirt that collects on paved areas such as roads or parking lots, and then is washed into the creek by heavy rains.

The creek flows southward along Rufe Taylor Road, under U.S. Highway 11E. After passing under a bridge (labeled Frank Creek) on the Erwin Highway, the creek passes the Doak House museum and continues along the edge of the Tusculum College campus, parallels Richland Drive for a distance, then leaves the Tusculum city limits and eventually makes its way to the Nolichucky River.

Hayden has noted that College Creek has both agricultural and urban runoff problems, and drains an area that includes retail areas along U.S. Highway 11E, residential areas (including areas still being developed), and Tusculum College.

Goal Of Grant

The goal of the grant is to make enough small improvements at various locations along College Creek’s length that its water quality will improve enough for the stream to be removed from the state and federal list of “impaired” or polluted creeks.

This process is expected to take several years. Hayden said the Greene County Soil Conservation District and its partners hope to have College Creek removed from the list by about the year 2015.

‘It’s A Long Process’

Chris Cooper, a fisheries biologist and watershed specialist with the Tennessee Valley Authority, has said that, in his nine years with TVA, he has only seen one impaired stream improved to the point that it was removed from the impaired list.

“It’s a long process,” Cooper said.
“This is the first big 319 grant in East Tennessee,” Hayden told the Watershed Alliance, though he said several grants of the same type have been awarded in Middle and West Tennessee.

As reported earlier, the grant will be available to assist landowners interested in projects such as stream-bank stabilization, planting additional vegetation, and constructing features designed to reduce or slow and filter runoff from storms.

Hayden has said the grant will be used to pay for design expertise and also to help landowners with 75 percent of the cost of “remediation” features built on their property.

Examples would include storage cisterns, “rain gardens” or more elaborate designs.
Hayden noted that Tusculum College itself has expressed interest in constructing storage cisterns to store rainwater for later use watering athletic fields, modeled after a system that has worked successfully in Chattanooga.

Hayden said he intentionally focused on College Creek for the earlier study and grant, not only because it is on the list of impaired creeks in the county, but also because it has typical problems and is highly visible.

He said he is hopeful that, if it can be demonstrated that well-designed and well-thought-out projects can actually improve College Creek’s quality over time, then the work will spread to other creeks all over the county.

Work On Other Creeks

Working with the Middle Nolichucky Watershed Alliance, Hayden said, he plans to do similar work along Holley Creek, Richland Creek and Pigeon Creek.

He said Thursday that “letters of intent” leading to grants have been signed for Holley Creek and Richland Creek.

Hayden said all four creeks drain water from the Greeneville area.

“The mission ultimately is to help the city solve its stormwater problems,” by raising the level of awareness so that corrective steps will be understood and accepted by most landowners, he said.

New Officers Nominated

The Middle Nolichucky Watershed Alliance board nominated a new slate of officers.
Wilhelmina Williams, who is currently the secretary, presided because she was the only officer present.

Hayden nominated the current treasurer, Fred Kaufmann, to continue in that post, a nomination which was approved unanimously.
Present, in addition to Hayden and Williams, were Greeneville Alderman Sarah Webster, former president Dana Ball, and Chris Livesay, who has been assisting Ball with various projects.

Hayden then nominated Ball to replace Williams as secretary. Ball cannot continue as president because she is now employed by the Tennessee Valley Authority, which has provided financial aid to the Watershed in the past, but she can be the group’s secretary.

Hayden then nominated Williams as president, after first asking if she was willing to serve.

Williams said the slate nominated on Thursday will be presented at the September meeting, and nominations from the floor will be welcomed at that time, as well.

To encourage attendance, Livesay was tasked with finding the best time and place to hold a noon meeting in September.