Jacobs Creek watershed flood control projects to be unveiled

Four preliminary proposals to reduce flooding in the Jacobs Creek watershed will be open for public input during a meeting this week in Scottdale.

The alternatives for flood control measures proposed for Anderson Run, Little Sherrick Run and Stauffer Avenue Run will be presented by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service and the Westmoreland Conservation District at 6 p.m. Thursday at the Fountain Mills Event Center/Scottdale Firemen’s Club, 405 Porter Ave.

“These are historic (flooding) issues in the Scottdale area,” said Heather L. Smeltz, a civil engineer and cultural resources coordinator for the Agriculture Department in Harrisburg.

USDA will make recommendations to Scottdale and East Huntingdon officials regarding what it believes would be the best alternative, Smeltz said, then it would be up to the local governments to decide whether to accept the proposals.

All of the streams originate in East Huntingdon, but most of the flooding occurs in Scottdale, said James Pillsbury, hydraulic engineer for the conservation district.

Proposals will focus on flood control measures along Anderson Run, which causes flooding in the western end of Scottdale; Stauffer Avenue Run, which floods a few houses near Southmoreland Elementary School; and Little Sherrick Run, which floods homes on Orchard and Scottdale avenues near the Scottdale firehall. A flood control measure also seeks to alleviate flooding at the West Park housing plan; the houses are not along a stream, but stormwater management is insufficient, Pillsbury said.

Scottdale and East Huntingdon officials could not be reached for comment.

If local authorities approve a flood control measure, it will not be a quick fix, Smeltz said. There will be reviews and approvals needed, followed by a design phase that likely would take a year. Construction might not happen until two or three years down road “at best,” Smeltz said.

Smeltz said she compares the process to making food.

“A crockpot (meal) takes a lot longer compared to a microwave, but you get a better meal in the end. It’s a very slow, very lengthy process, but you generally get better results,” Smeltz said.

Funding for the projects would come from the Agriculture Department’s Watershed Protection and Flooded Prevention Program fund, which could be supplemented by the infrastructure funding Congress has passed, Smeltz said. The total project cost would be in the multi-million dollar range.

A potential hurdle tofederal financing for the flood control projects is that the value of the houses impacted by the flood control measures must be greater than the cost, Pillsbury said.

The proposed projects would supplement the Jacobs Creek flood control channel in Scottdale and three flood control dams the Natural Resources Conservation Service designed and built years ago to help alleviate flooding. One of the largest of the flood control dams, the Bridgeport Dam, was built in the early 1990s.