Protecting NW Fla. bayou, watershed

The full restoration of Bayou Chico, which runs along the border line of Escambia County and the City of Pensacola, Fla., will take years to complete. But both local governments have on-going projects to manage pollution from storm-water runoff from the waterway. Pensacola is tentatively scheduled to complete its $600K storm-water facility in March. Escambia County is continuing work on multiple projects to protect the bayou's watershed. The county commission was to have voted Jan. 4 to buy a property along Jackson Creek as part of a project to restore is watershed, which flows into the western sector of Bayou Chico. The ECC was to have voted to award a $349,250 contract to Gulf Marine Construction (MC) to build a 1,765-foot boardwalk extension in Jones Swamp, a watershed of Bayou Chico, as part of the Jones Swamp Wetland Preserve and Nature Trail. "It took Escambia County 100 years worth of bad management to get here," said County Commissioner Doug Underhill. "We're not going to fix it overnight …” Once the storm-water facility is completed, it will prevent solid pollutants from flowing into the bayou from a 200-acre area that drains into Maggie's Ditch through a 48-inch storm pipe, according to the director of the Pensacola Public Works Department. The facility will consist of an underground storm-water vault that is designed to function like a home septic tank and trap any solid pollution from escaping. The city will empty it up to three times a year. The county is working a plan to measure toxicity and pollution in Bayou Chico. (Source: Pensacola News Journal 01/04/18) Pensacola-based GMC’s products and services include piers, decks, dune crossovers, lifts, seawalls, fill, and wetlands/water cleanup.