Report: more than $3B needed in next three years to repair Tennessee’s crumbling sewage systems

A stretch of the Duck River in Marshall County where a water treatment plant is proposed. Courtesy: Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation

Tennessee needs more than $3 billion by 2027 to repair, replace and expand wastewater treatment systems as infrastructure crumbles and population increases, a state analysis released Wednesday found.

The first-of-its-kind snapshot of Tennessee’s aging waste systems by the Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Affairs lays out looming and costly challenges ahead.

Many of the state’s sewage treatment plants are marked by a “failure to maintain or upgrade systems,” the report noted. Local governments have little financial leeway to upgrade and expand public systems. And nearly half of all decentralized waste systems — typically operated by for-profit companies to serve a single entity, such as a subdivision — fail to comply with minimum state environmental standards.

The report found that while the state has invested heavily in upgrading wastewater infrastructure in recent years by distributing more than $500 million in federal American Rescue Plan funding, “it is likely that Tennessee’s wastewater systems will need to spend billions to pay for the repair, replacement and expansion of their infrastructure.”

Many of the state’s systems are already under scrutiny by state and federal environmental regulators.

For-profit sewage providers are seeking access to public funds, a move environmental groups oppose

Scores of local government-operated waste systems are under moratoriums issued by the Tennessee Department of Environment Conservation because of sewage overflow problems. The moratoriums bar the facilities from any future expansions until the often-costly overflow problems are fixed. Increased incidents of flooding across the state may lead to sewage spills, the report noted.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has also found Clean Water Act violations in three Tennessee municipal systems: Springfield, Knoxville and Nashville. Nashville is now under a court-ordered agreement with the federal agency to make nearly half a million dollars in repairs to continue to serve its existing customer base.

The costs to local governments of fixing existing environmental violations could prevent investments in expanding facilities, even as the state population is projected to increase nearly 14% by 2042 to 7,980,650 – a figure the study’s authors note does not take into account the projected growth of 170,000 people expected in west Tennessee after Ford Motor Company’s new BlueOval City electric vehicle plant opens for operation in 2027.

A “significant number” of Tennessee’s wastewater systems don’t have long term plans or capital budgets, the report noted.

“Without a proper plan, wastewater systems may struggle to maintain compliance with state rules and regulations, secure adequate funding for capital improvements, and address customer needs,” it said.