Valley Creek

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Valley Creek is a 46-mile-long stream draining 257 square miles of western Jones Valley.

The stream originates from various springs and drainage basins in west and southwest Birmingham, and is covered over for most of its course until emerging at a headwall near the intersection of 7th Street and 4th Terrace North at the western terminus of 5th Avenue North.

It continues, paralleling 3rd Avenue West, and is joined by Holly Spring, draining the Green Springs area, just past Center Street.

The creek flows southwest toward the northern edge of Bessemer, then bends northward, emptying into the Black Warrior River near Camp Oliver, below the confluence of Locust Fork and Mulberry Fork.

West of Center Street in Birmingham the creek divides streets named "west" from those called "southwest".

Birmingham's first sewer system, a 15-mile network of brick tunnels constructed in the 1880s, flowed out into Valley Creek about two miles south of the city limits.

Beginning around September 14, 2021 a large number of dead fish were observed in the section of Valley Creek just below downtown Birmingham. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management, Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the City of Birmingham and Jefferson County Environmental Services are investigating the incident.

Points along Valley Creek

References

  • Pillion, Dennis (September 17, 2021) "Alabama investigating thousands of dead fish in Birmingham creek." The Birmingham News