Hunter Wilson/Daily News Rodney McGaughey (left), of the Department of Public Works, gives a tour of the new City of Bowling Green Wetland Project at Lost River Cave on Friday. The project took six months and will help filter storm water runoff.

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City and state officials hailed the potential environmental and educational benefits of a new wetlands stormwater treatment project during a dedication ceremony Friday at Lost River Cave and Valley.

Members of Friends of Lost River were also on hand to help dedicate the project, the product of years of design work and several months of construction.

Conceived as part water purifier, part educational tool, the constructed wetlands will collect stormwater runoff from nearby Nashville Road into a basin engineered and funded by the Kentucky Highway Department.

From there, the water will flow to a lift station carrying it to a wetland separated from the basin by a walking path.

Plants and other organisms in the wetland will consumer the pollutants in the stormwater, which will then drain into the cave system.

Nick Crawford, founder of the Western Kentucky University Center for Cave and Karst Studies, developed the idea for a manmade wetlands project to help preserve the cave system’s ecosystem.

The widening of Nashville Road to five lanes as it passes by the entrance to the Lost River Cave grounds provided the impetus to act.

“We were concerned about the stormwater runoff that would be directed onto this property ... we wanted to treat it before it got into the cave system,” Crawford said.

Friends of the Lost River, WKU, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the city government began collaborating on the concept in 2001.

Funding was to have originally come from the Corps, but the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks resulted in that funding being redirected to other priorities, said Rho Lansden, executive director of Lost River Cave and Valley.

The city stepped in to pay for the construction, design, planning and engineering services - a total cost of $374,401.

The state transportation cabinet provided for the construction and design of the retention basin, WKU and Friends of Lost River provided the land for the site and the Friends will also pay for signage, irrigation systems for areas upland from the wetlands, and maintenance of the wetlands.

The total cost of the project has been placed at $937,901.

“(Crawford) considered this as a project that would draw hydrology and geology students from all over the country,” Lansden said.

The wetlands is considered a crucial step toward protecting the surface and ground water in the cave and valley.

The cave and much of the surrounding area sits on what is known as Karst terrain, marked by limestone, sinkholes and limited surface water. Stormwater seeps quickly through Karst terrain into ground-water supplies.

House Speaker Jody Richards, D-Bowling Green, commended the efforts of the several agencies that worked to make the project a reality.

“It’s a major victory that right here in one of the busiest parts of town, we’re able to set aside a beautiful natural phenomenon and preserve it for people around the country,” Richards said.

Situated near the parking lot at the entrance to the park, the wetlands was filled Friday - not with stormwater, but with water pumped from State Trooper Cave on site.

Project manager Rodney McGaughey of the Bowling Green Public Works Department said water from State Trooper Cave will flow through the wetlands during dry weather, adding that water levels in that cave have not dropped since drilling occurred.

McGaughey said that it would take several months for most of the plants in the wetlands to begin to approach maturity, and up to three years for the plants, which would consume the stormwater pollutants, to reach full maturity.

Intermittent “flooding” of the wetlands with cave water has occurred to help the plants grow more quickly.

An observation deck spanning across part of the wetlands will be built later in the year.

Len Peters, secretary of Gov. Steve Beshear’s Energy and Environment Cabinet, said the Lost River Cave project could inspire construction of other manmade wetlands in the state as a more cost-effective means of controlling environmental damage from stormwater runoff.

“As a community and individuals, we need to determine the value of clear water and the importance of preserving habitats and effectively treating the water that flows through them,” Peters said. “The constructed wetlands may prove to be a technically feasible and manageable approach to removing pollutants and ... less expensive to build and maintain.”