Grass, trees prove themselves as flood control on Mouse Creek Monday, January 26, 2009

By:

Randall Higgins

CLEVELAND, Tenn. � The city has plans to use nature to control nature.

A combination of green grass and colorful wildflowers this year and growing young trees later will be aimed at controlling flooding around 17th Street on the Mouse Creek greenway.

Cleveland Stormwater Director Jonathan Jobe said a new product with that combination already proved itself along a formerly eroding bank during the recent prolonged rains.

�It�s basically a sock that has mulch, grass seed, wildflower seed that will bloom in spring,� said Mr. Jobe. �It is staked into place with small trees and regular stakes so there will be trees growing up through it.�

The sock is called EdgeSaver and is manufactured by Filtrexx, said David Ramsey of Earthscapes Inc. of Chattanooga, a division of Stein Construction Co. Another version of the sock, filled only with wood mulch to promote water runoff but control erosion, is being used at the Volkswagen site at Enterprise South, he said.

At the job site, the sock is filled with whatever from a blowing device on a truck, Mr. Ramsey said. The seed is also injected into the mulch from the truck.

�It�s a natural fix to recover the creek bank,� Mr. Jobe said.

The fix looks better and costs less than riprap, the traditional erosion control, he said.

Mr. Ramsey said the mulch sock is more eco-friendly.

�The problem with riprap, besides being ugly, is that it doesn�t allow for wildlife habitat at the water�s edge,� Mr. Ramsey said.

City policy is to use natural products as much as possible, Mr. Jobe said.

The city used the product last summer along the retention ponds built in the East Street area to protect homes and Whirlpool from repeated flooding. Mr. Jobe said the socks and the pond did their job there, too.

The city had to get state approval for the creek work, including removal of silt build-up, said Chris Broom, city stormwater technician.

He said the truck-mounted blower kept equipment out of the water.

�That was another nice feature. There was nothing in the creek but people in waders,� Mr. Broom said.

The sock material has also been used on other sites around the area, including the Tennessee Aquarium and Signal Mountain Road Wal-Mart.