BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C. (828newsNOW) — The town of Black Mountain will host a public drop-in meeting on Nov. 5 to introduce plans for the Swannanoa River Floodbench and Constructed Wetlands Project, an effort aimed at improving water quality and reducing flooding along the river.
The meeting will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. in the Town Hall Council Room at 160 Midland Ave. Residents are invited to stop by, learn more about the project, and ask questions.
The $5 million project will restore about 2,800 linear feet of the Swannanoa River using natural channel design techniques to reduce erosion and manage stormwater during increasingly frequent heavy rain events.
Work will take place in two segments. The first will focus on the south bank of the river between Hemphill Road and the Norfolk Southern Railway near the confluence with Flat Creek, covering roughly 7.25 acres in the 1 percent regulatory floodplain. Plans include building a floodbench and creating small off-channel pocket wetlands to reduce erosion on the north bank.
The second segment runs from the railway to Interstate 40 east of Riverwalk Park — an area identified in the town’s 2009 Stormwater Master Plan. That phase will include floodplain benching and construction of a 1- to 3-acre wetland to divert stormwater, improve floodplain connectivity and reduce the need for hard bank stabilization.
The project was reaffirmed as a priority in Black Mountain’s 2022 Stormwater Master Plan Update. Funding comes from a $5 million grant through the N.C. Division of Water Infrastructure’s Local Assistance for Stormwater Infrastructure Investments (LASII) Construction Grant program. The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s 319 Nonpoint Source Program and Division of Water Resources will administer the project, supported by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
