In that connection, I should like also to point out that in addition to the 4,506 acres within the watershed that will be benefited there is an additional area of 500 acres that is common to both the Hardin Creek flood plain and the Tennessee River flood plain, that with the protection provided by the Pickwick Dam upstream on the TVA and the watershed project on Hardin Creek, that there should be a high degree of protection provided for these 500 acres. In addition, if the area downstream, in the flood plain area in the Tennessee Valley were prorated back to this watershed in much the same way as the figures were developed for the Mulberry Creek watershed last week, the pro rata share of the acreage benefited would amount to about 4,500 acres. Mr. POAGE. We are willing to go just as far as we can on these, but in all frankness I cannot for the life of me understand how you would pass these benefits to the 500 acres that lie in the Tennessee River flood plain. Mr. LANE. Were it not for the fact that Pickwick is just immediately upstream on the Tennessee River, so that the flooding that occurs in this region of the Tennessee River is largely due to the tributary inflow between the Pickwick and the Kentucky Dam downstream, that might be correct. Mr. POAGE. Well, now, this is the area, is it not-I know it—that I cross on the bridge there. It is near Johnsonville-that is the area that I cross-this stream floods the Tennessee River-it takes or gets the Tennessee River out of its banks and floods the land, does it? Mr. LANE. It is my understanding that the flooding that occurs in the Tennessee River between Pickwick Dam upstream and Kentucky Dam downstream Mr. POAGE. That is above the land, is it not? Mr. BASS. Mr. Chairman, if I may interrupt. You are familiar with the area. Mr. POAGE. Yes. Mr. BASS. Where you cross the river at Savannah, Tenn. Mr. POAGE. Yes. Mr. BASS. That is several miles south of New Johnsonville. This area is east of where you cross the river at Savannah. You cross the river in Hardin County, Tenn. Then it is about 20 miles into Wayne County, Tenn. This project which has a total of 52,000 acres is in Wayne County which is northeast of the river, of the bridge where you cross the Tennessee River. This is in an area of quite hilly country. The flash floods in this area go into the river immediately. It is about 120 miles from the lower part of the Pickwick Dam to the Kentucky Dam where this creek goes into it, so that it might be a little bit farfetched to say that the water from this watershed would make an immediate flood in the Tennessee River and to do a great amount of damage. But at the same time it is running in right at the lower reaches of the river below the Pickwick Dam, quite a way before it gets to the Kentucky Dam. Mr. POAGE. Almost at the upper point of the Kentucky Dam. Really, the Kentucky Lake under normal conditions does not come back this far. This is just immediately below the Pickwick Dam. Really, there is no permanent reservoir from Kentucky Lake where this enters. Mr. POAGE. That gets me back to what I was thinking about. This flows into the upper reaches of the Kentucky Lake and there will not be any water in some seasons that will back up that far, whereas in other seasons it will back up that far. Mr. BASS. That is reasonably correct. Mr. POAGE. Kentucky Lake varies its level from time to time almost 20 feet, does it not? Mr. BASS. I would think so, yes. Mr. POAGE. That is a tremendous amount of water. When you get a variation of 1 foot on the Kentucky Lake you have a tremendous amount of water. Mr. STUBBLEFIELD. Yes. Will the Chairman yield? Mr. POAGE. Yes. Mr. STUBBLEFIELD. I bought a lot on Kentucky Lake to do some fishing, about 6 years ago. They had a flood on the Kentucky Lake, and the boathouse was found lodged up in an oak tree on the side of the hill and it is still there, for all I know. It has a great rise and drop and is a hazard. Mr. POAGE. What I am getting at here is that we want to do everything that we should, but we do not want to have brought to us something out of the skies. Mr. STUBBLEFIELD. This contributes to that condition. Mr. BASS. Actually, where this creek enters into the Tennessee River I am not using any technical references, but this is from my personal knowledge and memory, where Hardin Creek empties into the Tennessee River it is above the area of impoundment, really, from Kentucky Dam, if you understand what I mean. Mr. POAGE. Yes, I do. Mr. BASS. Under normal conditions this is above the impoundment area and immediately below the impoundment area of the Pickwick Dam. The area in the immediate impoundment of the so-called lake region of the Kentucky Dam, you see, could be within the normal flood stages and still be before it reaches the impoundment area and damage could be done from flash flood influences from this area. Do you understand what I mean? Mr. POAGE. I think I see it. That is what I am trying to get at. The Tennessee River at that point does not carry this creek, no matter how flooded this creek is, and this creek brings down enough water to actually overflow the banks of the Tennessee River, does it not? Mr. BASS. I would not want to be in position to say that. I do not have the technical engineering information on that. Mr. BROWN. I think perhaps I can throw some light on this, Mr. Chairman. In the operation of the Tennessee River system of reservoirs and this is true of systems and reservoirs on the Missouri River and some of the other rivers of the Nation, too-when you have a major flood from an area of precipitation over the whole river basin and a flood wave coming down the river, all of these major reservoirs are filled to about their flood capacity. This water is then released over a period of many weeks. The release of the water from these major dams often keeps the river level within a foot or two or three of the top of the banks. This is not a natural condition. It is the result of the operation of the reservoirs. So then when you get a side. tributary coming in between one dam upstream and the normal backwater of another dam downstream, you have a level of water already in the river because of the upstream release very close to bank level. Then the amount of water out of this little tributary can raise the level just enough to flood out over this land which, otherwise, would not be flooded. Mr. BASS. I have seen it do that. Mr. POAGE. You have a record of this. You know this project is over in cost per acre? I do not know whether Mr. Bass is familiar with that or not, but I know that the soil conservation representatives know that this project will not meet our criteria as it stands. I do not know why you keep bringing matters to us here like this when you know they do not meet our criteria. But are you telling us now that there are 500 acres on the Tennessee River that could be flooded which are usable land, or would be as a result of the Hardin Creek project? Mr. BROWN. It is about 500 acres, I think, which is the figure that we should deal with here. Mr. Lane cited that first. Five hundred acres directly below the mouth of this tributary which is, according to the information we have, directly affected by this creek. Mr. POAGE. By this creek. I cross the river at Johnsonville and on both sides are swamps-especially on the west side for 3 or 4 miles. There is not a thing in the world that would be hurt by flooding it. What is the situation down there? Mr. BASS. This is corn land. Mr. BROWN. This acreage is not affected by the backwater from the downstream reservoir, but the channels may be full of water. The land is usable for crops. The Tennessee Valley Authority operates their reservoirs so that the land between them can be used for cropping purposes, but they do have additional hazards that they cannot control from these side tributaries. If they happen to have a flash flood at the time that they are releasing their large volumes of storage from their dams. This is the picture, I think, that would be realistic for this situation, sir. Mr. POAGE. Then you would tell us, would you, Mr. Brown, that by taking that into consideration you would bring those cost-per-acre figures down to what figure? Mr. BROWN. Our estimation on the 500 acres, if you added it into the calculation, would bring it down to $190, that is, from $211 to $190. Mr. POAGE. Would you care to make a statement? STATEMENT OF HON. ROSS BASS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TENNESSEE Mr. BASS. Mr. Chairman, I would like to say first that this project lies in Wayne County which is in my district and in Hardin County which is in Mr. Murray's district. Mr. Murray asked me to express his interest in this project to the committee and to say that his own committee of which he is the chairman is meeting this morning and that it is impossible for him to personally come here, therefore, he asked me to express his interest in the project. I personally know that these people have done a great deal of work on the project in the area. They are vitally interested in it and seem to believe that it would be of great benefit over future years to the area. Most of the technical information has already been given to you. I will not take further time of the committee in trying to explain the project from the standpoint of costs and acreages, et cetera. However, I would like to respectfully request that the committee give favorable consideration to the project. According to this morning's record it was approved yesterday by the committee in the other body. I certainly hope that your committee, Mr. Chairman, will see fit to approve this, so that the work can be started in the very immediate future. Thank you very much. Mr. POAGE. Thank you, Mr. Bass. Does anyone else want to be heard on this project? (No response.) MILL CREEK, TENN. Mr. POAGE. We will now pass on to the Mill Creek watershed. (The Mill Creek watershed work plan is as follows:) MILL CREEK WATERSHED WORK PLAN Size and location: 24,585 acres in Clay and Overton Counties. Sponsors: Mill Creek Watershed District, Clay County Soil Conservation District, Overton County Soil Conservation District. Watershed privately owned: 61 percent; non-Federal public, 39 percent. Size of farms: About 140 acres average. Project purposes: Watershed protection and flood prevention. Project measures: Soil conservation practices on farms; and structural measures consisting of one floodwater retarding structure and 66,900 linear feet of stream channel improvement. Storage capacity of the structure is 2,700 acrefeet. 1 This is primarily the cost of applying land treatment measures by landowners. Cost sharing from Federal funds appropriated for the agricultural conservation program may be available if included in the county program developed each year in consideration of approved State and National programs and the annual authorization by the Congress. 2 Consisting of Administration of contracts.. Land, easements, and rights-of-way. Legal fees, bearing cost, etc.. Benefit-cost ratio: 1.3 to 1. $450 46,350 500 2,700 Prorated Public Law 566 cost per acre: $281 (derived from figures marked by asterisk). Carrying out the project: The Mill Creek Watershed District assumes all local responsibilities for installing, operating, and maintaining the structural measures. The estimated annual cost of operation and maintenance is $2,145. Mr. POAGE. You may proceed. Mr. LANE. Mr. Chairman and members of the subcommittee, this watershed is located in Clay and Overton Counties, Tenn., and consists of a watershed area of about 25,000 acres, tributary to the Cumberland River. The cropland constitutes less than 10 percent of the total watershed area and it is used primarily for tobacco, corn, small grain, hay, and some truck crops. The problem here is one of flooding of the agricultural flood plain. To alleviate that problem it is proposed to install one floodwater retarding structure controlling the upper portion of the watershed to be supplemented by channel improvements to provide an adequate level of protection. The area benefited within the watershed is estimated to be 792 acres, and will benefit about 40 rural families. The estimated project cost is $691,932, of which $557,317 consists of Federal funds, and $134,615 are non-Federal funds. The benefit-cost ratio is estimated to be 1.3 to 1. The prorated Federal cost per acre is estimated at $281 on the basis of the acreage benefited within the watershed. In connection with the cost-per-acre figure, I would like to call your attention to some additional information that we received from our Tennessee people on this matter. They state: The drainage area of Mill Creek is 24,585 acres of which 792 acres or 3.2 percent is flood plain benefited by the Public Law 566 program. This drainage represents approximately 8 percent of the drainage area of the 310,000 acres drained by the Cumberland River below the Dale Hollow and Wolf Creek Dams. The proposed program will reduce gross erosion an estimated 47 percent, thus reducing the sediment delivered to the Cumberland River. The next major tributary downstream, Roaring River, joins the Cumberland River about 15 miles below the confluence of Mill Creek with the Cumberland River. The added drainage area is about 48,223 acres. On the basis of the same ratio of flood plain |