Newsletter v2012-1

Bridge, Phillips, Elam Drainage District News From the desk of Milton Sandy Jr

February 22, 2012

Vol 2012-1

This newsletter is directed to friends and supporters of our efforts to get something done about the repetitive flooding in Corinth and Alcorn County which on May 2, 2010, caused loss of life, public and private property and threatened public health and safety by the massive release of raw sewage into flood waters. If you have news, questions or comments, please fire away.

WHO YOU GONNA CALL when you have DIRTY, DAMP, DANGEROUS DRAINAGE WORK? Flood Threat for February

February 16, 2012 This experienced crew of the Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District aren't afraid of no drainage work and have the tools, equipment, knowledge and experience to get the job done. L to R- Dale Franks, Tommy Jaggers, Michael Burk, Tommy Lindsey, Lee Graham, and Jim Mullins along with director Mike Phillips (not pictured). This small group collectively has around 102 years of combined experience solving drainage problems with TRVWMD in North Mississippi.

We're glad we called the Tombigbee River Valley Water management District after the flood of May 2, 2010, and after enough paper work to sink a small boat, they quietly arrived on February

Contact: Milton Sandy Jr 662-286-6087 - Fax 287-4187 - E-mail mlsandy@tsixroads.com

7, 2012 and started working out of public sight at the Kansas City Southern Railroad bridge over Bridge Creek. They have been working steadily downstream and are near approaching the CR402 bridge. This multi-county agency of the State of Mississippi is the ONLY governmental agency which has given ANY help to the city of Corinth or Alcorn county to prevent future flooding, in my opinion. Since the flood of May 2, 2010, Corinthians have been living in the constant shadow of a repeat of those disastrous events. We had a near miss last year in April of 2011. We should all be glad that the TRVWMD exists and is a small bastion of knowledge, experience, tools and equipment to help solve major drainage problems which cause flooding in our area of the State.

As you might deduce from the group picture above, this work is not for the faint of heart.

The men are wearing safety chaps over their legs to help prevent chain saw accidents. Their boots are waist high waders. Safety hats and goggles or glasses are standard equipment. The work is wet, dirty and dangerous. They've seen rain, cold and a little snow while they've been here in Alcorn county.

Starting at the KCS RR trestle, the routine has been pretty straight forward. Work is being done from the south side with a crew wading or using a boat to reach the north side. The crew on the north side fells and cuts any leaning trees and any fallen trees blocking the water flow.

Trees are cut and felled, the

Cutting and felling trees blocking lower banks of Bridge Creek stumps are not removed. The tree root systems remaining help stabilize the soil and help prevent sediment washing downstream.

Using a cable attached to a tree skidder with a heavy duty winch or a cable attached to a heavy duty excavator, the cut trees and flood debris are pulled from the North side to the south side where it is removed and stacked in neat windrows at a safe distance from the creek banks to avoid washing back into the creek.

Attaching choke line cable Page 2/6

On the south bank, the excavator is equipped with a bucket and thumb attachment which allows trees, brush and debris to be picked up and stacked.

The excavator is also equipped with a changeable tree-shear attachment which allows large trees within reach to be clipped and felled just like a large garden clipper.

A bulldozer and skidder/loader round out the heavy equipment list. The equipment is largely for handling and moving the debris removed from Excavator bucket- note hydraulic thumb behind bucket to grip

Excavator bucket with cable being attached with choker to tree limbs.

the creek. The operations are calling “clearing and snagging� which is basically a maintenance operation designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible. There is no digging, dredging or modification to the canal being done at this time. Any operations of that nature would require engineering design and review with a host of regulatory agencies. We'll have to be content for the time being with returning Bridge Canal to its

Beautiful stretch of Bridge Creek after clearing and snagging completed.

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hydrological capacity as built and as modified by erosion from flooding for the last almost 100 years.

Looking East down Bridge Creek from south side of Bridge Creek at KCS RR trestle. A railroad bridge has been at this exact same spot for over a 150 years. These tracks carried Confederate forces evacuating Corinth during the Civil War. On the night of May 29, 1862, Confederate General Beauregard began slipping his forces out of Corinth. On May 30, the remainder of the army left the city and burned any remaining supplies. Halleck's men entered a deserted Corinth later that day. Although an important city had been forfeited to the Union army, Beauregard's army remained intact and, with it, Confederate hopes in the West. It's highly likely this trestle was damaged or destroyed as they left.

A closer look at this same trestle shows a rather Rube Goldberg engineering construction.

Many of the wood members are in rather poor shape- the TRVWMD workers would not cross under the bridge or allow equipment near any of its supports for safety reasons.

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This is just an initial preliminary report on the work being done by the Tombigbee River Valley Water Management District on Bridge and Elam Creeks. The list of people I have to thank for getting us to this spot is longer than the room I have left in this newsletter but I'll be covering that in the next newsletter. We're still have 3 major projects to complete the paperwork for the TRVWMD in the City of Corinth on Phillips and Bridge Creeks. There are only 4 property owners holding up those projects. I'll have to reveal those names soon if we can't make some headway in moving forward. In the case of future flooding, I want everyone to know what the obstacles have been in continuing progress in the city of Corinth against flooding.

WATER QUALITY ALONG BRIDGE CREEK One of the issues raised while I was visiting with TRVWMD crew working under the harsh conditions I've described above was the overwhelming sewage smell and the proximity to the sewer treatment plant. The turbidity of Bridge Creek is rather high and the sediment content of the water is apparently relatively high from runoff upstream. The natural question for anyone having to work in this dark, muddy water with an overwhelming sewer smell in the air is whether there is raw sewage in the water.

Naturally, I was curious as well so I brought along a sterile container and took a Bridge Creek water sample from the TRVWMD work area and brought it back for water testing. Using 1mg of the water sample and Coliscan Easygel, I plated a petri dish, incubated it for 24 hours at 95 degrees and then inspected the dish.

I was pleasantly surprised to find NO FECAL COLIFORMS. The level of Non-fecal coliforms was 800 per 100 ml of water- a very safe level for human contact . NonBridge Creek West of KCS fecal coliforms are widely distributed in nature, being found RR Trestle- 2/16/2012 11:30 both as naturally occurring soil organisms, and in the am, 0 Fecal Coliforms, intestines of warm-blooded animals and humans. Fecal 8x100=800 per 100 ml Noncoliforms are coliforms found naturally only in the intestines fecal coliforms of warm-blooded animals and humans. Based on this information, I would conclude the smell is primarily from the sewer plant and not from the water in Bridge Creek.

To improve public relations around the sewer plant, I would think the sewer department could consult with Corinth native Dr. Leila Scott Kelly of the Mississippi State Extension Service and find some beneficial fragrant landscape plants which might help ameliorate the smell. I was always intrigued by some of Dr. Kelly's plants that used to be sold at the CO-OP. I remember in particular a Geranium plant which smelled exactly like mosquito repellant. Others had unusual beneficial smells. I know that plants would have to match the soil conditions in that area but it seems it would make an interesting olfactory and horticultural experiment.

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CORINTH STREET DEPARTMENT The Corinth Street Department is also doing a good job of cleaning out some of our problem areas on local creeks. Work continues on Phillips Creek nearing Shiloh Road mulching

by Mike Pittman Construction contractor Larry Bonds.

Just this morning I was going down Hwy 72 and noticed the Corinth Street Department had a crew hard at work clearing debris from the KCS RR trestle over Elam Creek. Wading in water and pulling out debris, they were also doing some damp, dirty drainage work. It is a real pleasure to observe some preventative flooding maintenace work going on in Corinth.

Phillips Creek looking North from E. 3 rd Street Bridge

2/22/2012 Corinth Street Department employees Dale Peters and Mathew Bradock (yellow safety vests) along with 2 inmate helpers and Gilbert Wooten, supervisor (not pictured) clearing debris from Elam Creek under KCS RR Trestle Page 6/6