By By James Crawford
News Editor
U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Alabama today announced that funding intended for the extension of the Pine Barren Watershed has been approved for the City of Atmore. This award, totaling $1.027 million, will be released to the city through a program administered by the United States Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service. The Pine Barren Channel, which runs through the watershed, currently experiences a significant level of flooding that directly impacts fifty-five homes adjacent to the channel. This funding will enable city officials to extend the channel into Escambia County, Florida, and thus alleviate much of the potential for significant future flooding of these homes.
"I was pleased to learn today of NRCS' intention to release this funding to the City of Atmore," Bonner said. "Mayor Shell and other local leaders have done an outstanding job of keeping me informed of the problems currently posed by the channel in the Pine Barren Watershed. I am pleased that their hard work in seeking a solution to this problem has paid off and will result in the necessary funding to prevent future occurrences of flooding that have affected the homes in that area."
Atmore city administrators, led by the efforts of Mayor Howard Shell, have for years sought funding to help combat the flooding problems faced by many Atmore residents.
"We have a major flooding problem in some areas of town, especially in the south side of town," said Shell. "One of the problems we have had for years is that we couldn't extend our drainage past the Florida line and our run off would collect in the low areas and it would become a problem for us. We have for a number of years wanted to extend that drainage and fix the problem but couldn't secure the funding.
"I was very please to receive the call for our congressman Jo Bonner's office telling me that we will now have amble funding to complete the project."
The funding for the drainage extension is the second money grant in excess of 1 million that Atmore has received from Congressman Jo Bonner's office in the last few weeks for projects in the Atmore area.