*WINNER* Data Collection towards Understanding Stormwater Management and Flooding Issues in the Town of Gainesboro, Jackson County, TN

Abstract

The Town of Gainesboro of Jackson County, Tennessee has recently experienced significant flooding and stormwater management issues. Located in an economically distressed county, it does not have the resources necessary to determine the cause of the issues. Speculated causes include the age and condition of the Town’s stormwater management infrastructure, overgrown vegetation present in Doe Creek, a stream that drains much of the runoff from Gainesboro, and increased runoff due to land use change in the draining locations since 2010. However, prior to this project, limited data was available to determine the factors contributing to flooding. Therefore, this project aimed to collect data to provide a true understanding of the problem and hopefully lead to a more effective solution. In order to achieve this objective, information was gathered concerning: historic weather data, historic land-use data, topographical information, soil data, data on Doe Creek and its tributaries, water quality data, flood maps, storm drain and sewer maps with details on invert elevation and sizes, and socio-demographic data. Overall, none of the speculated causes were proven. The speculated cause of the Town’s poor stormwater management infrastructure was identified as a data gap and is to be resolved in the future steps of this project.