Bear Creek flooding topic of community meeting
Stakeholders in the ongoing Bear Creek Watershed Plan-Environemental Assessment will hold an information meeting Thursday in Canton.
County spokesman Heath Hall said the Madison County Board of Supervisors are the local sponsor for the project. Project officials will hold an information meeting at the Canton Multipurpose Complex on Thursday, April 13, at 6 p.m.
“The purpose of this meeting is to inform the public about the Bear Creek Watershed Plan-Environemental Assessment currently in progress, the objectives of which are to reduce flooding and improve water quality in the communities within the Bear Creek Watershed,” Hall said.
The United States Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service with the Madison County Board of Supervisors as the project sponsor is developing a Watershed Plan - Environmental Assessment for the Bear Creek Watershed Project in Madison County, the project website says. The Development Plan is authorized by the Watershed Protection and Flood Prevention Act.
The main purpose of the proposed project is to prevent and reduce flood duration and levels of riverine flooding within the Bear Creek HUC10 watershed in Madison County, Mississippi, according to the project website. This would in turn reduce the corresponding flood-related losses to people, land, and property within and outside the existing regulatory floodplain in the Bear Creek watershed: approximately from the city of Canton to the city of Gluckstadt.
The website says the reduction in damage would be accomplished without causing increased flood damage in other areas. Flooding has caused major damage to residential, industrial, and road infrastructure, at a high economic cost, in the recent past. In addition, a goal of this project is to improve water quality for streams with high nutrient and sediment loads, as well as recommend the implementation of urban water quality BMPs.
The website lists the “project stakeholders” as the Madison County Board of Supervisors, Mississippi Soil and Water Conservation Commission, United States Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service and Waggoner Engineering.
A previous meeting was held on March 8 in which project officials gave an overview of the goals of the project.
Those with questions or concerns are encouraged to reach out by email at bearcreekinfo@waggonereng.com or by mail to Waggoner Engineering Inc, Bear Creek Watershed Plan-EA, 143-A Lefleurs Square Jackson, MS 39211. Visit the project website at https://bearcreekwatershed-waggoner.hub.arcgis.com