Cookeville Approves Bid To Expand City Water Facilities

Cookeville City Council approved the financing for the expansion of the city’s water facility at its meeting Thursday night.

City Council approved the tentative low bid Thursday at a cost of $25.4 million. Finance Director Brenda Imel said that money from TDEC, ARP money, or a combination of the two are on the table to make up the some $7 million difference between the loan and the bid.

Water Department Director Ronnie Kelly said the city originally applied in 2020 for a $17.5 million state loan for the project.

“It’s going to add some filters, clarifiers and so forth,” Kelly said. “It’s the last piece of the puzzle we’ve been working on since the 90s, of how we’re going to double plant capacity. So this is just the last piece of the puzzle of the treatment portion.”

Kelly said that the plant was built in 1970 and was doubled in 1983. Now, the city wants to increase capacity by 50 percent. Kelly said that by his calculations, the water plant servesces about 90,000 people all over the Upper Cumberland.

In looking at the data for water usage over the years, Council Member Mark Miller noted that the treatment plant was over capacity around 2007. Kelly said that the plant was in drought conditions, which is another reason why capacity expansion is needed.

“You can have average usage, but you also need to be able to have enough capacity for those drought conditions too,” Kelly said. “So we’re just trying to keep ahead of the curve there.”

Kelly said that the 50 percent increase in capacity brings the total to some 22.5 million gallons per day. He said the ultimate goal is to have the plant at around 30 million gallons daily.