JOHN COFFELTEditor

Despite a rocky start about 20 years ago, the Wayside Acres collective septic system is currently being eyed as a potential example for other developments in the county.

A county ad hoc Rural Water and Wastewater Committee toured the Wayside facility on April 26. During the tour Wayside Authority Chairman David Nipper said called the system a success.

The Wayside facility is a step system similar to that an individual rural homeowner might have. The system in this case can serve 184 homes in the Wayside community, but the authority intends to cap that number at 160 houses.

Each home has a grinder pump that feeds 67 homes’ wastewater to the facility. At the facility, that wastewater is flushed with an equal amount of fresh water, then sent to a 2,000 gallon tank before directed to leech lines for final filtration into the soil.

The $10 million facility (at time of construction) will soon be cleared of trees in leech field and those lines replaced using $975,000 American Recovery Act funds that the county allocated in 2022. The Authority only owes less than $100,000 and will be paid off in the next year.

The facility constructed with USDA money that the county paid off then is financing repayment. The facility costs about $96,000 annually to operate, including maintenance costs, performed by the county and charged to the Authority. More customers results in smaller costs.

Residents using the system are billed a monthly maintenance fee of $80, down from $114 as of June. Those residents not on the system, but their property touches system lines are charged $45 a month. The fees are collected through the residences’ Hillsville water bill. Nipper said that since his time on the Authority he has negotiated with the utility company to enforce the sewer payments and got the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to confirm the situation with a letter warning that nonpayment can result in water cutoff after three months and eventual condemning of their homes. Nipper said that additional facilities could lower that cost further.

“The authority has been in place for 17 years,” Nipper said. “Nobody has informed TDEC, involved the comptroller and everybody has kept the county in the dark.”

Nipper said that all of the area residents are now up-to-date on their maintenance fee.

The Wayside Acre situation has been controversial and allegedly mismanaged from the get-go.

Commissioner Jimmy Hollandsworth said that the state pretty-much admitted fault for allowing the as many developments to be built in the area on ground that isn’t acceptable for septic systems.

Only seven neighborhood lots perked, at least 67 did not.

Nipper feels that the Boynton Valley and Beech Grove could be areas with problem, non-perking land.

“It’s something that the county would have to look at,” he said. “But the problem is going be finding land and being able to fund it without putting it on the backs of taxpayers.”

Nipper estimated that one system in Boynton Valley could handle the whole area.

“In the next five years, if we can add people I can drop that price to $60 flat,” Nipper said. “That’s what Murfreesboro charges, a $60 flat-fee cost is where you really want to be.”

Commissioner Tim Morris said that areas with failing septic system can create a public health situation.

“You have to take care of this,” Morris said. “If you have raw sewage running out her, you can kill somebody. It’s an environmental hazard. “

He said that the wayside system is a viable and is maintaining the value of homes that would otherwise been condemned.

“It’s a proven thing. It’s just getting it in at different places and seeing what TDEC will and won’t condemn,” Morris said.

John has been with the Manchester Times since May 2011. John has won Tennessee Press Association awards for Best News Photo and placed in numerous other categories. John is a 1994 graduate of Tullahoma High School, a graduate of Motlow State Community College and earned a Bachelor of Arts in English from Middle Tennessee State University. He lives in Tullahoma, enjoys painting, dancing and exploring the outdoors.