SUD Pipeline Policy

SEWANEE UTILITY
DISTRICT Page 1
of 2

RESOLUTION 02-21-08

2008
PROPOSED SOUTH PITTSBURG PIPELINE

TO
WITHDRAW WATER FROM THE TENNESSEE RIVER:

THE
SOUTHERN CUMBERLAND PLATEAU PERMANENT

WATER
SOURCE DEVELOPMENT PROJECT

WHEREAS,
The public utilities on the Southern Cumberland Plateau, including
the Tracy City and Monteagle water utilities serving customers in
Grundy County and Marion County; the Big Creek water utility serving
customers in Grundy County, Marion County and Sequatchie County; and
the Sewanee Utility District serving customers in Marion County and
Franklin County constitute a natural regional water resource planning
unit and all have a need for additional sources of water supply to
meet existing or projected future needs during water emergencies such
as that experienced during the 2007-08 drought; and

WHEREAS,
The aforementioned water utilities on the Southern Cumberland Plateau
that provide water to portions of Grundy County, Marion County,
Sequatchie County and Franklin County desire to pursue planning for
additional water supply to meet future growth needs on the Southern
Cumberland Plateau; and

WHEREAS,
The aforementioned utilities located on the Southern Cumberland
Plateau have not yet adequately determined the long-term
potential to withdraw water from the Tennessee River given the
river’s present hydraulic loads during drought and the need to
provide adequate flow to handle the thermal loads on the river from
the TVA’s twelve coal-fired thermal plants, two nuclear power
plants at Sequoyah and Watts Bar (with Unit #2 at Watts Bar to come
on-line by 2013) and the three nuclear plants at Brown’s Ferry,
each of which need about three billion gallons a day for thermal
cooling purposes. Therefore, it is unclear that 3MGD will be
available over the long-term or even the period necessary to pay off
the cost of the pipeline; and

WHEREAS,
The public health tradeoffs have not yet been adequately
studied between building new impoundments on the plateau with their
attendant levels of iron and manganese oxides relative to the use of
Tennessee River water for new supply, given that, according to
scientific studies, mixtures of pesticides are extant in the river
waters, standards for which have not been determined for 11 of the 31
compounds detected, as well as PCB’s (polychlorinated
biphenyls), dioxin, and mercury, all of which may not be completely
removed by present sand filtration or newer membrane water treatment
technology; and

WHEREAS,
Engineers have determined it is feasible to
install a water transmission line up the mountain along Highway 156
to connect the South Pittsburg water system to the Monteagle water
system. However, the costs and benefits of utilizing other withdrawal
points, such as Jasper, Tennessee to the Tracy City utility have not
yet been adequately considered; and

WHEREAS,
The final cost of the Southern Cumberland Plateau Permanent
Water Source Development Project and its costs/benefits relative to
other options for obtaining new supply and the engineering costs of
those options has not yet been adequately studied to determine the
final cost of all infrastructure improvements, including the
pipeline, water treatment, and wastewater treatment infrastructure;
and

WHEREAS,
Long-term demand forecasts and safe yield requirements for each
utility district are not yet presently available to determine
withdrawal needs for each utility to assist in determining the fair
apportionment of the capital costs of the pipeline, as well as the
ongoing operating and maintenance costs over the life of the
pipeline; and

WHEREAS,
Addressing effluent loads on the Southern Cumberland Plateau before
additional water supply becomes available to the Southern Cumberland
Plateau is important given that Tracy City is presently relying on
wastewater treatment by Monteagle and Monteagle’s two
wastewater treatment plants are presently unable to adequately handle
existing effluent flows, may not be fully in compliance with current
permit requirements and Monteagle is currently under a TDEC-mandated
moratorium that prohibits new connections to its two wastewater
treatment plants, and that the Sewanee Utility District is presently
also under a TDEC-mandated moratorium that prohibits new connections
to its wastewater plant; and

WHEREAS,
The State of Tennessee has a desire to encourage sound regional water
planning initiatives and has established a funding source
specifically to fund planning initiatives such as could be beneficial
for the Southern Cumberland Plateau Permanent Water Source
Development Project and the aforementioned
water utilities presently involved in this project; and

WHEREAS,
As of 2001, any new transfer of water for use outside a "redline"
basin requires an additional permit from the State of Tennessee
beyond ARAP & 401 certification and the South Pittsburg pipeline
may require an additional permit if parts of the counties to be
served fall on the other side of these red lines, which, if that is
the case, will require such permits before any pipeline can be built
or construction begun; and

WHEREAS,
Any long-term solution such as the Southern Cumberland Plateau
Permanent Water Source Development Project will not address the
present-day drought situation the utility districts face on the South
Cumberland Plateau given the many years of permit negotiations and
pipeline construction that will be required. Thus, there is plenty of
time for thoughtful and thorough regional water planning that may
result in reducing the final costs to all utilities involved and to
their customers;

BE
IT HEREBY RESOLVED that the Sewanee Utility District Board of
Commissioners requests that before any construction of a water
pipeline begins to connect the water systems on
the Plateau to the Tennessee River and Federal and/or State
construction grants are awarded for this project that Federal and/or
State planning grants are applied for and received to be used
for studies that address regional water resource planning issues for
the Southern Cumberland Plateau; and

BE
IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Sewanee Utility District has appointed a
designated Commissioner to speak for the board and who is therefore
authorized to negotiate with the appropriate utility district boards
and county, State, and Federal officials regarding such regional
planning initiatives and to present to the entire Sewanee Utility
District Board any agreements and documents necessary for the
approval of funding from various State and Federal agencies and
commitments of monies by the utility for ongoing work on this
Southern Cumberland Plateau Permanent Water Source Development
Project.