How is committee planning to…address water shed issues?

We are starting to receive e-mails here at CenterGroveInc.org that we cannot answer. They address concerns that the citizens have and how the reorganization committee is planning to address issues in their areas. We recently received a question about the flooding, even this year, in the Smith Valley area:

We’re underwater here just like the rest of Johnson County. Should we repair the drain tile on our own, or can the same people taking care of Olive Branch for the Twp/County take a look at the problem.
This is an area that holds the ground water because the back property line drain tile is damaged.
It has gotten progressively worse.
Thank you for your time.

Last year much of the county suffered from a devastating flood.  This is a recurring problem that hits the home owners in the Smith Valley area particularly hard. If you look at the GIS map, you will see that Smith Valley is surrounded by creeks, Honey Creek in particular. While the current “official” maps indicate that the creeks are capable of handling the runoff from the surrounding land, that actual situation is much different. An engineer has walked the entire length of the creek, from Stones Crossing Road to State Road 37, and noted that the creek has accumulated beaver dams, fallen trees and sediment which are not reflected in the water flow calculations at the time they were estimated, all of these impede the flow of the creek and increase the potential for flooding anywhere along the creek. There are starter homes and expensive homes along this creek and all are in danger of increased flooding if the proposal does not address the current condition of the creek and not the out dated picture presented in the watershed plans created years ago.

We are sending e-mails, at the same time this article is posted to Paul Reed the Chair of the Finance Sub-Committee and David Payne the Chair of the Infrastructure Sub-Committee asking how their respective committee are planning to address this problem in White River Township. We need a financial plan, which our increased taxes can used to address, and an infrastructure plan which can provide for sufficient drainage throughout the area. We will be look for and reporting on their responses over the next few weeks.

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Updated April 21: David Payne replies:

Thank you for your question.  This is one of the areas the Infrastructure subcommittee is currently researching.  I have 2 sub-committee members who have expertise in the area of environmental issues. Given this is much more than trying to decide how to control the flow of water, but also how to deal with the pollutants it gathers along the way, etc, I have posed this question to the two members of the sub-committee, Mark Richards and Chris Gale.  I don’t mind telling you that I have little knowledge in this area so I’m also gathering information to get up to speed on this issue and I hope to have an answer on this topic soon.

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