Water Authority Addresses Restrictions, McLemore Expansion, Citizen Questions

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

The Dade County Water and Sewer Authority implemented water restrictions last week, explaining that this was because of high usage amounts rather than drought or low water levels in Lookout Creek. Several days of rain over the weekend, however, remedied the situation because people took a break from watering lawns and gardens. The restrictions were lifted on the morning of Monday, July 1.

The authority held its regularly scheduled meeting on June 25 after adjusted restrictions were released earlier that day. Eddie Cantrell (chairman) clarified that the restrictions are not due to drought. He said, “This is not a shortage of water. This is a shortage of our ability to pump what’s being used.” He reported that the north end of the county in particular was experiencing low pressure issues.

The second iteration of restrictions asked customers to water lawns, water gardens, and fill swimming pools only between the hours of 4 p.m. and 8 a.m. Normal water usage, such as washing dishes and showering, was not restricted. A portion read: “To put it simply, customers are using the water faster than we can put it in the tanks. With all of us working together we should be able to keep the tank full enough so everyone has adequate water flow.”

Ashley Castleberry (media director/public relations) also explained to the Sentinel that water was simply being used faster than the tanks could refill. Plant manager Frank Hawkins monitors the tank levels and makes these types of decisions when needed. Castleberry said that the restricted hours were to give the tanks time to refill and build up water pressure.

Hawkins added, “I’ve seen this before. If it rains once a week or so, we’ll be in good shape. If it goes weeks without rain, we’ll have the same problem.”

The Sentinel inquired about the possibility of further restrictions, should we find ourselves in a drought like last summer and fall. Castleberry said it will depend on the tank levels.

At the meeting, Cantrell added, “We can’t make anybody do anything, but what we’re asking is for people to be reasonable and sensible and try to cut back so that everybody can have water because if you run out of water in the tank, nobody’s going to have water. We would appreciate any help on that that we can get. But it’s not a drought, the creek’s not going dry.”

The authority then looked at a permit request from Scenic Land Company (the development company working on McLemore Golf Resort). Castleberry told the board that signing the permit is not a promise to provide water, but the company needs the permit to be signed by the authority before moving forward with the Dade County portion of the McLemore expansion.

Ladd Environmental (the engineering firm) has already reviewed Scenic Land Company’s plans, but Bobby Cloud (the water company’s distribution manager) is still reviewing the plans. Board member Tony Payne expressed his concern that signing the permit would, essentially if not legally, require the authority to provide water later on.

All agreed that they needed to hear from Cloud, and the matter was tabled for the time being.

During Citizen Participation, Dr. William Pullen Jr. followed up on topics he brought to the authority during the April meeting (see the May 1 issue of the Sentinel). He asked if the connection to Tennessee American Water was functioning. Cantrell said he believed it is, but Elizabeth Zeller (general manager) would need to confirm that once she is back from training classes.

Doc asked whether Hawkins measures the depth of Lookout Creek or the gallons (i.e. flow). Castleberry said Hawkins could answer that and offered to connect the two of them.

Doc explained that he heard somewhere (not from the authority) that the Department of Natural Resources measures the creek. He contacted DNR and was referred to the Environmental Protection Division. EPD told Doc that they do measure the creek in feet, not gallons/flow.

To clarify what exactly Doc is hoping to find out, Payne inquired about his reason for these questions. Doc said he wants to know if the water being pulled from the creek is lowering the levels at the northern end of the creek.

He said, “There’s been a thing about getting Lookout Creek a trout stream on the upper end down toward Rising Fawn, so I’m interested in what are we pumping out, what is it going to do down north, the creek flows north…What makes it a trout stream south and not trout stream north?”

Moving on, he added that he also spoke with Evan Stone (IDA executive director) about Tennessee American Water. Stone told Doc that the IDA’s dealings with Tennessee American are related to water, not sewer.

Doc explained his concern that the sewer along Highway 299 will be unable to handle high usage. He reported that according to Stone, the IDA has no projects along 299 at the moment.

However, at the June 6 meeting of the Dade County Board of Commissioners, Stone said, “299, that area is really, especially now that the water is going to be upgraded to an 8-inch line, we’re going to be looking really hard to market that area.” While the IDA does not have current projects in the 299 area, this statement seems to affirm Doc’s concerns about the future.

The authority entered executive session to discuss a personnel matter and a property matter, but no action was taken after the session.