Gills Creek Watershed Association 2011 Annual Report
(Adobe PDF - File Size: 1.6MB)GCWA_Annual_Report_2011.pdf
City of Columbia Stormwater Projects Overview
Presentation to Gills Creek Watershed Association Technical Committee, December 1, 2010http://www.columbia.sc.gov/tasks/sites/coc/assets/File/Stormwater_GCWA_2010.pdf
Richland County Stormwater Capital Improvement Projects
Presentation to Gills Creek Watershed Association Technical Committee, January 5, 2011http://richlandonline.com/departments/publicworks/StormDocs/CIP.pdf
Gills Creek Watershed Association The Big Splash eNewsletter
February 3, 2012GCWA "The Big Splash" Newsletter
In This Issue: Urban Paddle & Picnic, Volunteers Needed For Two Clean-Ups, Cross Hill Food Truck Rodeo Success, Did You Know About Soil Testing?, Calendar Of EventsRead more...
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Gills Creek Watershed In The News
Friday, Jan. 06, 2012 - Business - Shop Around
Upscale restaurateur serving more basic fare at The Diner
By Kristy Eppley Rupon - krupon@thestate.comFulvio Valsecchi passed by the little building at 4405 Fort Jackson Blvd. for years, always thinking he’d like to try a restaurant there. His timing couldn’t have been better.
Shortly after Valsecchi – who also owns the upscale Ristorante Divino – started working on his new venture, The Diner, Edens development company announced it would redevelop a nearby vacant shopping center into a Whole Foods-anchored Cross Hill Market.
Meanwhile, Edens is holding a Food Truck Rodeo 4-9 p.m. Jan. 14 to announce the newest Cross Hill Market retailers to go along with Whole Foods. Entry is $5 and includes live entertainment. Proceeds benefit the Gills Creek Watershed Association and The Jubliee Academy.
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Friday, Nov. 25, 2011 - The State Newspaper - News - Local / Metro
Creek advocates using new technology to report spills
By DAWN HINSHAW - dhinshaw@thestate.comA dozen volunteers are carrying cellphones allowing them to quickly report the exact location of sewer spills and other water contamination along Richland County's Gills Creek.
The program, announced last week, started in September through a grant with AT&T, said Jessica Artz, director of the Gills Creek Watershed Association.
Using smartphones, volunteers can photograph clogged storm drains, sewer-line breaks or illicit dumping. An application attaches directions to the problem site, using a global positioning system. The volunteer then emails the photo and location to both county and city stormwater departments, the county ombudsman's office and the watershed association.
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2011-11-18 / Government / Neighborhood - The Columbia Star
RICHLAND COUNTY COUNCIL MEETING
Three groups combine to reduce pollution and increase water quality
By Mike CoxA major step toward actually achieving success along the Gills Creek Watershed was announced by three groups who are combining efforts to reduce the pollution and increase the water quality of this urban waterway long identified as an example of urban water quality failure.
Carol Kososki, of the Conservation Commission, announced a joint venture between the Commission, the Gills Creek Watershed Association, and AT&T. The two conservation groups will donate $8,500 each and AT&T executive Ted Creech presented an additional $11,500 to the effort. AT&T will also be a link in the actual project. I-Phone apps will be available to volunteers to report any potential pollution sites along the creek and adjoining lakes. The apps will identify the exact location of the pollution, automatically notify area officials, and send information to the Gills Creek Watershed Association. The idea is to reduce the labor involved with volunteers trying to pinpoint trouble areas and notify the correct body to get results.
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Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011 - The State Newspaper Editorial
Huguley: Let landfill close as planned
By MARK HUGULEY - Guest ColumnistAbraham Lincoln said, “I walk slowly but I never walk backward.” Richland County is in danger of “walking backward” as County Council members ponder the future of a landfill near Sumter County and the Wateree River.
County Council soon will decide whether to rescind its earlier policy limiting the life of the Northeast Landfill owned by Republic Services of Arizona. In doing so, it would void a 2007 agreement between Republic’s predecessor and Richland County that restricts the life of the landfill to 2018.
In 2005, the county’s solid waste management plan outlawed the expansion of existing landfills, and the landfill sued. According to Richland County administrative officials, the lawsuit ended in a 2007 settlement agreement that granted the landfill the authority to expand its Lower Richland facility but required it to close 10 years following the issuance of the DHEC permit. Additionally, Richland County would receive a host fee of $1 per ton for all waste the landfill accepted from outside of the county.
Now, Republic proposes to increase the host fees paid to Richland County if the county agrees to allow operation until the landfill is full. Based on past use rates, this means the landfill would continue to operate until about 2040. The company also would start paying the host fee for in-county waste.
To further leverage its position, Republic implies it is willing to sell Richland County the environmentally important Cook’s Mountain property, which it has an option to purchase and a stated desire to re-sell.
The right way for Richland County to address this proposal is to buy Cook’s Mountain straight out with no link to a landfill that is possibly harmful to both the environment and people. Nearly the entire mountain is in a conservation easement that would prohibit its use as a landfill. Republic’s proposal appears to be arm twisting.
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November 9, 2011 - The Free Times
City Puts Brakes on Stadium Sale
Walmart Development Slowed; Public Meetings to Follow
BY EVA MOORE - Free Times Issue #24.45 :: 11/09/2011 - 11/15/2011"The city slowed its move toward selling the Capital City Stadium to a developer who hopes to put a Walmart supercenter there.
City Council has already taken the required two votes to approve a contract with Bright-Meyers for the sale of the property, which borders the historic Olympia community and is in the Rocky Branch Creek floodplain. However, the city manager never signed the contract — and on Nov. 1, Council has told him to hold off signing it until the developer answers some questions about environmental and community impacts.
“We need to pause, need to reflect,” said Councilwoman Belinda Gergel during a Nov. 1 council meeting at which Mayor Steve Benjamin announced Council’s plan.
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Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2011 - The State Newspaper
Re-energizing Decker Boulevard
A vision of trails along Decker-area creeks
Richland County and landowners reach for a conservation planBy DAWN HINSHAW - dhinshaw@thestate.com
Wooded wetlands could become shady walking trails if Richland County and landowners can agree on a conservation plan for Decker Boulevard.
Members of the county’s planning staff have approached federal regulators with a concept to restore the polluted urban stream that runs behind strip malls on Decker Boulevard, developing a system of trails through the woods.
The project could gain traction because it appeals to an environmental base keenly interested in improving the Gills Creek Watershed. The watershed connects a chain of Richland County lakes that serve wildlife, provide recreation and are simply beautiful to the folks who live around them.
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Thursday, Jul. 14, 2011 - The State Newspaper
Let the clippings fall where they will
BY AMANDA MCNULTY - Associate Extension Agent, Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service, and co-host of ETV'S Making It Grow - amcnult@clemson.edu"There is something essentially Southern about details that show you are nice.
Some of these obsessions signal that you have lots of labor to expend, be it from people hired or just a major case of can't sit stillness. If there were push mowers to use, cows to milk, or even flowers to cut and arrange, maybe we wouldn't be so obsessed with blowing our yards clean.
What isn't natural is the urban landscape with impervious paved streets engineered so rain water runoff and anything it carries is diverted to the storm drainage system. Grass clippings aren't very different from slow- release fertilizer, returning 4 percent nitrogen, 1 percent phosphorus, and 2 percent potassium to the environment as they decay. This is a wonderful recycling process if the clippings are left on the lawn to complete their cycle of renewal. When blown on the street or dumped at curbside from the mower's catcher, they end up in our streams and lakes."
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Monday, Jun. 13, 2011 - The State Newspaper
A watershed moment for Gills Creek fans
Canoeists and kayakers come out Sunday to show support for water systemBY JOHN MONK - jmonk@thestate.com
"Watershed - what's a watershed?
To raise public awareness of that question, members of the Gills Creek Watershed Association hosted perhaps the first public event ever on Lake Katharine, the crown jewel of the 70-mile Gills Creek stream and lake network. Members of the public were allowed in a normally private entrance to go kayaking or canoeing Sunday afternoon.
"Wherever you are on land, you're in a watershed," said Emily Jones, 49, a landscape architect who is president of the Gills Creek Watershed Association."
Read more...
Apr 29, 2011 - Columbia Business Times, Columbia, Missouri
Rain, rain doesn't just go away | City View
By Mike HeimosMike Heimos is the city of Columbia's stormwater educator. mjheimos@gocolumbiamo.com
"Part one of a two-part series on stormwater
With spring rains upon us, it's time to discuss a topic that affects us all: stormwater.
It's a complex issue tied to geographic and hydrological conditions, ecological concerns, community consciousness, urbanization, government regulations, aging infrastructure, engineering challenges and economic constraints.
In this column, we'll take an educational approach to stormwater. Next month, Steve Hunt, environmental services manager for Public Works, will discuss future considerations for stormwater utility management."
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Thursday, Apr. 14, 2011 - The State Newspaper
Forest Acres bridge in limbo
By DAWN HINSHAW - dhinshaw@thestate.com"An out-of-the-way bridge in Forest Acres has been closed to traffic, and whether it will be reopened is anyone's guess.
It's unclear who owns the small bridge over Gills Creek, barricaded in February after a state inspector found the wood pilings were wearing out.
The bridge, about the length of a long-bed pickup truck, could be owned by the city, the county, even a private landowner.
All residents want to know is who is going to fix it - and when."
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Friday, Apr. 01, 2011 - The State Newspaper
Dams poorly regulated in S.C.
State dam safety programs rated last in effectivenessBy SAMMY FRETWELL - sfretwell@thestate.com
"South Carolina has one of the nation's worst dam safety programs, spending less money than most states to protect citizens who live downstream from aging dams, statistics show.
The Palmetto State, which has more than 2,300 regulated dams, rated dead last in the latest federal flood insurance report on the effectiveness of state dam safety programs.
Several dams in the Gills Creek watershed, which runs through the heart of Columbia and Forest Acres, are high hazard dams, DHEC records show. Those include dams at Lake Katherine and Forest Lake, according to DHEC's 2010 dam inventory."
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Monday, Mar. 28, 2011 - The State Newspaper
New facility at Cardinal site would make fuel from grease
In DHEC deal, Coastal Biodiesel would operate with limited cleanup, liabilityBy SAMMY FRETWELL - sfretwell@thestate.com
"An Horry County business has bought a chunk of the abandoned Cardinal chemical plant on Columbia's South Beltline Boulevard, about 10 years after state environmental regulators shut down the notorious industrial site.
Coastal Biodiesel will use the Cardinal site to expand its company, which converts restaurant grease into fuel. The company plans to open a grease-processing facility on about six acres of the Cardinal site. It would employ about 25 people.
State regulators ordered Cardinal Cos. to close in 2000 after tin-based chemicals at the site were released into Columbia's wastewater system, threatening the Congaree River. Cardinal used a range of chemicals to make coatings for glass bottles and stabilizers for plastic pipe."
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Saturday, Mar. 26, 2011 - The State Newspaper
Public notice of sewage spills often inadequate
By JOEY HOLLEMAN - jholleman@thestate.com"Large sewage spills happen frequently in the Midlands. But the public often doesn't get the details about the spills from the utilities or the state's environmental protection agency for days, if at all.
Quick public notice is important to warn people who recreate in nearby waterways that could be polluted with fecal matter. But state legislation that would have required prompt public notice bogged down last year and hasn't been revived this year."
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Sunday, Mar. 13, 2011 - The State Newspaper
Editorial - Editorial Columns
Huguley: We can't take clean water for granted
By MARK HUGULEY - Guest ColumnistThe plaintive lyrics "cool clear water," from an old ballad about a cowboy thinking of water while in the dessert, are evocative because we all want and need clean, life-sustaining water.
South Carolina is blessed with water, but we do not have a limitless supply that we can take for granted. Recurring pollution incidents are harming the quality of available water and in turn may harm our health and the environment.
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