Authority GM Said Time To Get Entities On Board

The General Manager of the Cumberland Plateau Water Authority said it is time to begin talking about meaningful changes to address the county’s water issues.

General Manager Jeff Dyer said the authority is beginning conversations with utility districts and the community to try and put together a solution. Dyer said it is crucial to start the conversations now as it will help form a solution sooner rather than later.

“It is important to start immediately because delaying you know that just slows down the progress down the road,” Dyer said. “So we are looking at it immediately. The urgency is yes we have to start the conversations and yes we have to start working together.”

Dyer said things are falling into place after the Crab Orchard Utility District voted in favor of joining the CPWA back in October. Dyer said Crab Orchard’s decision to join is progress that has not been seen over the past two years.

“This is a huge step early on,” Dyer said. “You know you go from two years as mentioned earlier that there’s been two years of no progress to now in the last six weeks not only is there progress but there’s also an opportunity for engagement with a current utility in the area.”

Dyer said his conversations with the community are to stress how urgent the water supply issue needs to be addressed. Dyer said it is quite easy to see the urgent need as all you have to do is look at the local water supply.

“Even today, if you go look the lakes in Cumberland County you’re going to see that those water resources are low right now,” Dyer said. “Thankfully we’ve had some rain over the past couple of days and have helped bring that back up but our problem long term is going to happen.”

Dyer said looking into the future he hopes other utility districts will join the initiative to better the Upper Cumberland. Dyer said he acknowledges that overall the authority has not had much progress since being formed but he hopes the authority can continue the newfound momentum to keep the ball rolling towards finding a resolution.