BAY MINETTE, Ala. —The Baldwin County Commission entered an agreement in April with Hydro-Engineering Solutions LLC., a specialized hydrologic and hydraulic engineering firm, to provide a comprehensive study of the watershed containing the Fish and Magnolia Rivers in Baldwin County.

The study will address stormwater management within the watershed and provide planning for the basin as a whole. The study will provide benefits to Baldwin County including the development of drainage regulations and the identification of potential regional detention areas within the watershed.

The report generated by the study findings can also be used by county staffers for future development planning and to help aid with water quality within the watershed.

“I am pleased that the county is doing this study so we can rank regulations to specific watersheds,” said Bob James, Baldwin County Road and Bridge Division Commissioner.

The study, which is scheduled to be completed in late October 2011, will include a computer model of the watershed that will be developed using data gathered from on-going field measurements and existing sources.

Baldwin County and Hydro-Engineering Solutions LLC. are currently meeting and gathering data from multiple sources including the Mobile Bay National Estuary Program (MBNEP), the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) and the Weeks Bay Reserve Foundation.

“We are very excited about this project and the benefits it will have in helping us plan for our future regulations and providing the citizens with knowledgeable information regarding flooding in the area,” said Cal Markert, Baldwin County Engineer. “We are aware that this study will not stop all flooding but it will give us a tool to better understand what is going on in the watershed and how we can be better prepared to plan for the needs of the area and preserve it.”

The Mobile Bay National Estuary Program is enthusiastic about Baldwin County’s pursuit of managing stormwater on a watershed scale. Over 120 miles of Baldwin County’s water bodies are considered to be “impaired” due to large concentrations of pathogens or siltation caused by stormwater runoff.

For more information, call the Baldwin County Highway Department at (251) 937-0371.