Choccolocco Creek Watershed Dam Gets A Face Lift

by Heidi Richards, Acting District Conservationist, Anniston Field Office, AL

Small watershed projects provide flood control, municipal and irrigation water supply, recreation, erosion control, water quality improvement, wetland development, and wildlife habitat enhancement. However, dams can also represent one of the greatest risks to public safety.

Rehabilitation work on multipurpose watershed dam No. 11 in the Choccolocco Creek Watershed, Calhoun County, Alabama, began in January 2007. The rehabilitation work will help insure a higher level of safety due to the increase in downstream urban development.

The majority of the small watershed dams built in Alabama were planned and designed with a 50-year life span. Many of these dams are approaching the end of their designed life or are already beyond the 50-year life span. Some common problems of older dams are:

• Deteriorating metal pipes and structural components—after 50 years, metal rusts and fails.
• Sediment-filled reservoirs—sediment displaces storage of floodwaters; some sediment may have contaminants from chemicals in runoff from upstream areas.
• Subdivisions and businesses built upstream—roofs and concrete streets and sidewalks increase the volume of runoff to the dam.

Today, many dams are in a much different setting than when they were originally constructed. Most of the dams were built in rural areas to protect agricultural land downstream. Over the years, population growth and urban sprawl have occurred both upstream and downstream from the dams, and land use changes have taken place. The No. 11 Choccolocco Creek Watershed dam project is a joint effort both physically and financially with the Water Works and Sewer Board of Anniston and the USDA-Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Additional Information:

Alabama Watersheds

National NRCS Watershed Dam Rehabilitation (will open in new window)

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