Sewer system upgrade to be discussed at community meeting March 11

Metro Water Services will hold a community meeting on Thursday, March 11, from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Lentz Public Health Center Auditorium (311 23rd Avenue North). The purpose of the meeting is to inform the public about an ongoing effort to upgrade Metro Nashville’s combined sewer system and the related impact on Sylvan Park and other local neighborhoods.

If you would like more information on this clean-water initiative, please visit the MWS Web site, or call Sonia Harvat at (615) 862-4494.

Here is more information from MWS:

The purpose of this meeting is to share with your community constituents details of a new phase of an ongoing plan to improve quality of the Cumberland River, and to introduce neighborhood leaders with the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) established for this project.  In Downtown, West and South Nashville the CAC members are:

Tom Turner, Downtown Partnership
Juli Mosley, retired engineer, West Nashville resident
Mark Petty, Vanderbilt University
Emrick Kravec, St. Thomas Health System
Jeremy Daugherty, Urban Residents Association (Sobro)
Mike Pearigan, Hillsboro/West End Neighbors
Stan Romine, Metro Nashville Health Department

Because much of Nashville’s urban-area combined system is old, there are still combined sewer overflows into the Cumberland River when major rain events occur.  A map of the areas that are near you, under a combined sewer system and will likely be affected by these updates is attached. You’ll notice the CSO areas outlined in red on each map. The areas outside the red are generally not in a CSO basin and will not be affected.  There are other CSO basins and East and North Nashville. Those areas are being covered under separate community meetings.
Background

Due to a failure to meet requirements of the Clean Water Act, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is requiring Metro to conduct improvements to the remainder of the system.  Metro and EPA are partners in a Consent Decree that will involve a public input process that contributes to a scope of work to minimize future overflows into the Cumberland.  This will be accomplished through three main approaches – conveyance, flow-reduction and treatment.

Throughout the 1990s, Metro Nashville made major investments to update its urban-area sewer system to significantly reduce combined sewer overflows into the Cumberland River.  Major progress was made, and as a result the Cumberland River, one of Nashville’s greatest resources, is a much cleaner source for drinking water and recreation, but we still have a ways to go.

The March 11 meeting will include an overview of the combined sewer system and begin public dialogue important to achieving the best and most effective plan to improve Nashville’s water quality.