Integration Of Double Springs Will Begin This Summer

It will take the City of Cookeville up to a year to fully integrate Double Springs Utility District customers into the city.

Cookeville Water and Sewer Department Director Ronnie Kelly said there is a lot of work to do in that area.

“We’ll be bringing the council an engineering contract probably next month,” Kelly said. “That will be the design of the two master meter pits, maybe three, that will have to be constructed. So, probably within a year we will hopefully have those built.”

The Cookeville City Council voted last week to purchase some 500 Double Springs Utility District customers that reside inside the city limits. Kelly said the city plans on upgrading much of the infrastructure in that area.

“There’s a lot of old pipes in that system,” Kelly said. “We have a five year window we have to do that. There’s fire hydrants that need to be put in for fire protection; they have some old asbestos pipes we’re going to replace. We’re going to schedule that in chunks over a four or five year window.”

Kelly said when the deal becomes official, the city will reach out to its new customers. He said the city will keep everybody updated as the project progresses.

“We’ll probably be sending them letters as the first point of contact,” Kelly said. “That’s just to let them know we have an agreement worked out once it’s officially signed and everything is going to show them what is going to happen, and sort of give them a timeline.”

Cookeville first began discussing Double Springs customers within the city limits in the late 1990s.