JOHN COFFELTEditor

Sewer plant upgrades needed 

During Water and Sewer Commission Meeting called to approve the 2024-25 department budget the new Director of Water and Sewer warned members that the waste water plant could need some repairs that will fall outside the department’s normal operating budget.

Director Jeffrey Perry said “with the issues we have in the collection system, the last thing we need is (failures in equipment at the plant).”

“A lot of attention is in the collection system, if the collection system is fixed trough the project that is coming down, it’s going to increase the flow there. It could or could not handle it,” Perry said.

He cautioned that “things need to be looked at and looked at very thoroughly” at the plant.

Perry didn’t address specific areas of concern, but noted that rehabbing a plant is expensive.

“There are a lot of redundancies that are not in place that need to be in place,” he said. “I don’t know if any of this has ever been looked into, but in the short time I’ve been here – there are some issues at the plant.”

Perry suggested that that the plant’s ultraviolet effluent purification system should have a redundant backup in the event of failure. The system was added during the 2011 upgrade to the plant.

“UV is expensive, very expensive,” Perry said. “You get algae to grow in the pipe and you have to shut it down and clean it.”

“If something goes wrong and the UV goes out, where are you?” he asked.

Perry proposed a cheaper bleach method that while require storing a quality of effluent water while the chemical disinfects the water, it would provide a contingency for purification.

The UV system was added during the 2011 rehab to increase environmental and plant safety as safer “process for our personnel and a more environmentally responsible system to remove bacteria from the wastewater,” then-director Bryan Pennington said in 2012.

Included in the proposed budget was a pole barn to store waterlines until needed and additions to the water warehouse.

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.