On Saturday, March 22, Park Pride hosted a Tour of the Proctor Creek Watershed in collaboration with the Atlanta Department of Watershed Management, the Trust for Public Land, the West Atlanta Watershed Alliance and more organizations doing parks and water-related work in the watershed.
The tour began here, in the downtown area known as “The Gulch”, which is part of the headwaters of Proctor Creek. This parking lot, which currently produces vast amounts of storm-water runoff, is targeted for redevelopment as a Multi-Modal Passenger Terminal (MMPT).
The bus tour continued, passing by Mims Park and Boone Boulevard before stopping at our next destination, Fire Station #16, shown above. This is a site of interest because of the rain garden, shown right. The lack of upkeep since the garden was first planted was used to highlight some of the challenges of maintaining green infrastructure in communities with limited resources.
The next stop on our tour was the North Avenue Combined Sewer Overflow (CSO) Facility, shown above. During rain events this facility is used to treat sewer overflow before releasing the treated wastewater into Proctor Creek, at the location shown below.
Some evidence of the creek bank degradation can be seen, where powerful water erodes the bank after being channeled through concrete tunnels and artificial creek beds.
The photo above shows the future site of the Emerald Corridor Demonstration project, which will remove invasive species and trash from this site, adding native wetlands vegetation to help slow and clean the waters of Proctor Creek.
One of the last stops on our tour was the former Bellwood Quarry in northwest Atlanta, which will be transformed into the Westside Reservoir Park as part of the BeltLine redevelopment project. Once filled, this site will hold up to a 30 day supply of water for the city of Atlanta.
View the handouts that we received on this tour here: Proctor Creek Tour Materials
Also check out our Water and Environment page for a list of local resources relating to the Proctor Creek Watershed.