Spencer Begins Massive Water System Overhaul

The next step in overhauling the Spencer Water System set to begin after a $3.35 million intermediate water pump station received City Council approval.

Warren County Utility District General Manager Anthony Pelham said the pump station will be located halfway from the Caney Fork River alongside Highway 111. Pelham said the pump station will help the system pump water up the mountain from the intake station at the Caney For River as the mountain has about a thousand feet difference in elevation.

“It will help provide a better source of water in such that the water would then be coming from the Caney Fork River instead of utilizing the water in the city lake,” Pelham said. “That has been a significant contributor to the problems they’ve had in quality due to iron manganese and violations with disinfection by-products.”

Pelham said the project is so the water system can use a better water source. Pelham said once the overhaul project is completed the city’s water system would only use the city lake during an emergency. Pelham said he expects to break ground on the pump station sometime in January or February.

Council approved the low bid Thursday. Pelham also said there is a lot of work ahead in a short period of time as other projects will need to be designed and completed to achieve the goals of the overhaul.

“We will be looking at in the neighborhood of $13 million to $14 million in capital construction improvements in the Spencer area within the next two years,” Pelham said.

Pelham said the Spencer and Van Buren County are putting together their remaining ARP funds which is an estimated $2.9 million to go towards the project while the Warren County Utility District will be using a portion of $9.5 million received from TDEC to pay for the project. Pelham said those funds will likely not be enough to cover the entire water system restoration.

“We anticipate no, it’s a good start because there will still be other projects to be done and those will be phased in subsequent years,” Pelham said. “These ARP funds all have to be completed by September of 2026.”