Local Plumbers Will Fix Home Lines In Massive WWTA Program

Local plumbers will be enlisted to carry out the inspection and repair of home to sewer lines throughout Hamilton County in a massive program to solve rainwater infiltration problems, attorney Mike Carter said Thursday.

Attorney Carter told the County Commission that the $40 million-$45 million program to be conducted over an eight-year period will start in Signal Mountain and East Ridge.

Homeowners are already being assessed an $8 per month fee by the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority to fund the program.

Attorney Carter said the WWTA had the choice of bidding out the work and he said that likely would have gone to large out-of-town firms.

He said after numerous sometimes-stormy meetings with local plumbers it was decided to parcel out the work to those who go through a WWTA training course and agree to terms of the program.

Attorney Carter said, "This is truly a private enterprise solution to a public problem. You may be throwing things at me next year, but I'm willing to take that chance."

He said an outside engineering firm is determining what the plumbers will be paid. He said there will be a set amount of work per foot as well as surcharges for going deeper or for obstacles encountered, he said.

The plumbers will agree to fix any problems over a five-year period.

Attorney Carter said the WWTA was placed under a moratorium order by the Tennessee Department of Conservation and Environment two years ago. He said that has been appealed, but the WWTA is abiding by terms of the moratorium that affects Signal Mountain.

He said the problem is illustrated by the fact that one WWTA metering station has a regular 900,000 gallon flow. But after a half inch of rain, the flow is 1,400,000 gallons. He said the extra half a million gallons is rainwater getting in older, leaky pipes - especially clay ones. Those will be replaced in the program with water-tight ones.

He said the huge influx of rainwater slows down the decomposition process at the Moccasin Bend Sewage Treatment Plant and can also force raw sewage to overflow.