Water quality improvements coming to Turkey Creek Watershed thanks to state grant

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. ( WATE ) — Green infrastructure projects aimed at improving the “impaired” Turkey Creek Watershed are set to flow next month after the Tennessee Department of Agriculture awarded a grant to local governments.

The Knox County government announced on Wednesday that a joint grant of more than $200,000 had been awarded to it, the Town of Farragut and the City of Knoxville. The grant’s start date is July 1.

According to Knox County, the grant will provide up to 75% cost-share funds to homeowners and commercial property owners in order to support green infrastructure projects that will improve water quality in the watershed, including:

• Detention pond retrofits in commercial and residential areas
• Septic system repairs (focused on the North Fork Turkey Creek area)
• Residential rain garden installations
• Grassy swales/vegetative filter strips/porous pavement installations to replace concrete drainageways
• Streambank stabilization and stream buffer planting.

Along with these projects, the grant will support community outreach and education efforts, including:

• Targeted mailing to inform the public of opportunities to participate
• Educational visits to classrooms and community groups
• Stream/wetland clean-up volunteer opportunities
• “Make-it, take-it” rain barrel workshops and rain barrel sales
• Pet waste disposal stations installed in high-use areas

Why is this happening now? Knox County shared in its news release that Turkey Creek is on Tennessee’s 303(d) list of impaired streams for sedimentation and high bacteria levels . The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said that the primary cause of the impairment in the Turkey Creek Watershed is its location in a high-density urbanized area, where sediment and bacteria can easily wash into waterways.

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