$650K targeted for creek cleanup

By Tommy Stevenson
Associate Editor

Published: Thursday, July 7, 2011 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, July 6, 2011 at 11:50 p.m.

TUSCALOOSA | Tuscaloosa County will receive nearly $600,000 from the National Resources Conservation Service to clean up creeks clogged by downed trees and other debris from the April 27 tornadoes.

The grant will pay for cleanup in parts of eight creeks at an estimated cost of $648,515. The county will contribute 10 percent, which comes to $64,852, as required by the federal grant.

“This is money that we applied for from the NRCS’s Emergency Watershed Protection program and is specifically aimed at creeks and streams that have been impacted,” County Engineer Bobby Hagler told the Tuscaloosa County Commission, which formally accepted the money at its meeting Wednesday.

Photo copyright by JLW

Hurricane Creekkeeper John Wathen said he was pleased that the county obtained the grant.

“This sounds like real good news, and it looks to me like this is a chance for organizations like ours, which are already working to clean our watershed as much as we can, to partner with the county,” Wathen said.

“I don’t know the details of the grant yet, but it sounds like a good start, especially for some of these creeks that do not have watchdog groups like ours.”

The targeted areas and the estimated costs are:

-- Hurricane Creek at Holt Peterson Road, $188,280;

-- Hanna Mill Creek at Hannah Creek Road, $39,429;

-- Duck Creek at Teal Circle, $48,050;

-- Boone Creek at Bill Lunceford Road, $28,122;

-- Cypress Creek at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, $102,998;

-- Davis Creek at Hannah Creek Road, $128,327;

-- Hogstick Creek at Hannah Creek Road, $75,831.

County Commission Chairman Hardy McCollum said the county’s share of the cost will come out of its emergency fund and speculated that some of it could be deferred until the next fiscal year, which begins Oct 1.

“Like a lot of the damage to our city and county, this is a long-range project and can’t be accomplished overnight,” he said.

Reach Tommy Stevenson at tommy.stevenson@tuscaloosanews.com ore 205-722-0194.

Thursday, July 7, 2011