News

A community college in the upper Tar River watershed got a stormwater fix last week, courtesy of Sound Rivers’ Campus Stormwater Program.

Backwater Environmental completed a regenerative stormwater conveyance system on Vance-Granville Community College’s Henderson campus, providing a solution to ongoing erosion on the campus. Sound Rivers Program Director Clay Barber and Stormwater Education Coordinator Sierra Stickney, a Resilience Corps NC AmeriCorps member, were there to witness the project’s wrap up.

“The Backwater team worked hard against tough weather conditions to create an aesthetically pleasing and vital improvement to a very eroded outfall,” Sierra said.

The RSC system was constructed beneath an existing outfall where stormwater flowed from the campus to a small tributary of Ruin Creek. Because the stormwater was essentially unimpeded as it flowed downhill, it had taken plenty of land with it, according to Clay. The goal of the project is to prevent erosion by slowing stormwater down, spreading it out and giving it space to soak into the ground through a series of pools where water can collect, then cascade down to the next.

Sierra, who signed on with Sound Rivers in September, congratulated the team on the great work.

“This was my first start-to-finish construction project, and I am impressed by the way it turned out,” she said.

Next on Sound Rivers’ list of stormwater projects for Vance-Granville Community College is a rain garden. Construction is slated for next week.

The RSC system project was funded by a 2021 Environmental Enhancement Grant, awarded by the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office.

Resilience Corps NC AmeriCorps is a service program of the Conservation Trust for North Carolina, funded by a grant through the North Carolina Governor’s Commission on Volunteerism.

Like the stormwater work Sound Rivers is doing on campuses across the Neuse and Tar-Pamlico watersheds? So do we! Donate to support the Campus Stormwater Program today!