TERRE HAUTE —
Conservation and county officials met Tuesday to mark the completion of a 16-year-long project that constructed 13.3 miles of levee along Honey Creek.
The final phase of construction that included concrete floodwalls and an earthen levee along Thompson Ditch ended in September, 2011.
“I want to say job well done,” State Conservationist Jane Hardisty, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, said Tuesday during a meeting of the Vigo County Soil and Water Conservation District at the Vigo County Fairgrounds.
The effort to install a flood control levee began in 1990 with the creation of the Honey Creek Conservancy District, which has the authority to tax property owners in the Honey Creek watershed. The district was formed not long after a severe flood in 1985 along Honey Creek.
The entire project, including construction and land acquisition, cost $11 million, paid with local and federal funds. It was divided into three sections. Phases A and B, which included channel relocations for Honey Creek, were completed from 1995 to 2000.
Design for phase C was completed in 2005, but not undertaken until 2009, when federal funds were awarded to the conservancy district from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, commonly called President Obama’s stimulus package for shovel-ready projects.
Phase C, which was divided into four projects along Thompson Ditch, cost more than $6.5 million, of which more than $2.7 million was from taxpayers in the Honey Creek Conservancy District. That project included an earthen levee, concrete floodwalls and reconstruction of Springhill Road.
“This entire project covers about 98 square miles of drainage area,” Hardisty said.
The project now protects about 390 residential properties, 190 commercial properties and 1,300 acres of crop lands and pastures from Honey Creek flood waters, Hardisty said.
The levee, built to protect against a 100-year, 24-hour storm event, is designed to last 50 years, said Eddy Adams, NRCS district conservationist. However, with proper maintenance, such as replacing pipes and recasting concrete, the levee can last far longer, he said.
With severe drought conditions, the grass on top of the levee along Thompson Ditch is now scorched and will have to be reseeded later this year, Adams said, adding it is best to have grass growing to 8 to 10 inches tall to better hold soil together on the earthen levee.
“We want the vegetation. We found out in the flood of 2008 that anything that had 8 inches of growth or more, where water went over the top of a levee, it actually held the levee and soil together so it did not erode,” Adams said.
Another problem discovered by officials Tuesday are tracks from vehicles that have been driving on top of the levee.
“It is illegal to drive on the levee and we will make strong attempts to close off access from public roads and adjacent properties, which are on conservancy district property,” Adams said, including adding chains and no trespassing signs.
“Trespassers will be prosecuted,” Adams added. “We have to take steps to protect this levee.”
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com.
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Conservation, Vigo officials celebrate Thompson Ditch levee completion
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