By John Howell Sr.

Mendrop-Wages Engineering presented a comprehensive preliminary study of flooding and erosion control on Sand Creek during the Tuesday, April 19 meeting of Batesville’s mayor and aldermen.

City Engineer Blake Mendrop distributed copies of booklets containing photos, map point references and suggestions for improvements and cost estimates. The study was a response to requests from city officials seeking solutions for flooding in the Acorn Lane subdivision. Subdivision residents have periodically visited city board meetings, usually after periods of heavy rainfall, to ask for help with flooding and creek bank erosion which has carried away portions of yards from lots adjoining Sand Creek. Most of the watershed on which Batesville has developed is drained by Sand Creek. It originates near the Panola Country Club and bisects the city as it winds its way to the Tallahatchie River.

Mendrop broke the work into three phases and provided cost estimates for improving both sides of the creek with rip rap protection, gabiens (rock held in place within heavy wire cages) as follows: Edge of city limits upstream to Boothe Street, $481,150; Broadway to Creek Drive, $1.3 million; Court Street to Highway 6, $502,650 — almost $2.3 million total.

“That’s a lot of money, obviously, and if you ever do something, you have to determine what’s the most critical,” Mendrop said. He also said that whatever plan is devised would have to meet Corps of Engineers approval.

“Would you have to have Corps or (Dept. of) Environmental Quality even to begin …?” Alderman Eddie Nabors asked.

“You get them involved on the front end,” Mendrop replied. He said that the Corps gave its approval to a similar project his firm has handled recently in Carthage.

“From a funding source, drainage is difficult,” the engineer said about the city’s chance to get a grant to help pay for the work. He said that grants to fund water and sewer rehabilitation are more easily obtained.

“Drainage money is tough to come by,” he added, citing the national budget fight in Washington which has dried up such sources as the Natural Resources Conservation Service grants that the city has utilized for stream bank stabilization on other city projects.

The engineer said that he advises the city officials to start setting aside money in the budgets for the 2012 and 2013 fiscal year.

“If you’re really going to try to do something with Sand Creek, you’re going to have to figure out a creative way to spend the money without thinking that there’s a lot of free money out there,” Mendrop said.

Alderman Teddy Morrow asked if the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) would be willing to help in the area where creek erosion affects the right-of-way at Hwy. 6/278.

“A lot of times they will,” Mendrop replied.

“From the Tallahatchie up to the other end of town, did you see any particular area that would be well-served by putting a track-hoe in the ditch and cleaning and clearing?” Alderman Eddie Nabors asked assistant City Engineer Keith Quick, who walked most of the length of the creek, taking photographs and marking Global Positioning System points as part of the study.

“There’s really not a lot of debris in the channel until you get down closer to the Tallahatchie which, I know, is outside the city limits,” Quick replied.

He said that upstream from Broadway, some property owners had placed large pieces of broken concrete and other rip rap to hold the stream bank in place.

“As a whole, the channel is fairly clean,” Quick continued, citing specific locations where trees or other debris had collected.

“Those numbers are figuring the entire channel,” Quick said, “and there probably could be some spot areas that could be done. We kind of give you a worst case scenario.”

Replying to a question from Alderman Stan Harrison, Mendrop said that the higher cost for the section that includes the Acorn Lane Subdivision was due to construction of more gabiens.

“Gabiens are a lot more expensive than rock,” Mendrop said. He explained that gabiens are used when the edge of the creek bank is too close to homes to allow the gradual sloping required for rip rap.

Quick said that he found older oak trees with curved trunks adjacent to the creek. “That indicates to me that yes, there’s some minor erosion going on, (but) those trees haven’t grown that way overnight. It’s been an extended period of time and those still haven’t fallen into the creek so there’s still some stability there along these channels,” Quick continued.

“You kind of got to weigh the odds, you’ve got a nice, green tree canopy down through there and if you go through there with a project like this and a lot of that is fixing to be gone.”

“It’s going to be an open ditch,” Nabors said.

“Yeah,” Quick responded.