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That $96 million for watershed improvement projects in the state has been whisked away by the Trump administration, likely to never be seen or heard from again. Pine Bluff was to get about a third of that total for its own watershed needs.
The money had come down from the Biden administration as part of a Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but on the day Trump was inaugurated, Jan. 20, he pulled the plug on such spending — even though Congress had approved it.
Much effort had already gone into planning for how the money was to be spent in order to ease flooding in the flat Delta areas. One engineer said Pine Bluff had $200 million in watershed needs.
“We were in the process of putting out an RFP (request for proposal) for design,” said Frank Bateman, executive director of the Black Mayors Association, the entity that was heading up the project. “We had selected the firm, but we can’t do contracts until we make sure the money is released.”
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Mayor Vivian Flowers said the work involved could take eight to 10 years.
“This, more than anything, is about flood prevention because we’re talking about major costs to individuals,” she said. “There are so many people struggling within the city proper and outside the city who cannot keep their homes dry and who cannot get insurance.”
That all would have been part of a longer-term solution for the area’s drainage woes. A fix for some of the problems, especially inside the city, is to replace some of the old drain pipes — again, an expensive proposition — and also for residents to be more responsible in how leaves and brush are disposed of.
“…(N)inety percent of the issue with the drainage system is the citizens,” said Tiger Dockett, director of the city’s Street Department, “and the fact that they are trashing the ditches, blowing their leaves and stuff in the ditches. Along with the leaves, you have branches. All nature has to do is run its course … but when you have residents blowing their leaves in the ditches and washing it down the drains, it piles up and cakes up inside there.”
To be sure, the leaf and brush fix does zero for the watershed problem, which required vast amounts of data to determine where the problems were and then engineering to figure out what to do to fix them. But at this point, the big fix might never materialize, and what’s left is trying to get the word to residents that there’s a better way of dealing with tree trash than just blowing it out of their yard.
Come to think of it, if this is as big of a problem as Dockett makes it sound, perhaps the city should invest in a few leaf vacuum trucks. Those would make quick work of some of this, and the end result could be mulch for citizens to use in gardens and around plants. It’s a win-win.