News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Spencer and Warren County Utility District officials held a public meeting Tuesday night to address the long road ahead to improve the city’s water system.
Utility District General Manager Anthony Pelham said his main focus is to bring clean drinking water to Spencer’s residents. Pelham said the process may cause the water to get worse before it gets better.
“This is going to take in the neighborhood of two to two and a half years to accomplish these projects,” Pelham said. “But we will be looking at water line upgrades throughout the system. Not everywhere but the key areas that have been identified. The biggest thing it will impact is the water quality that we are working on and you will be able to see the impacts of these.”
Flushing of the lines have taken place over the last several weeks. Some Spencer residents questioned that process, saying it was causing damage. Pelham said flushing the lines is a much cheaper option than replacing them.
“We may have caused some small pressure drops or maybe even service disruption but that is where we are flushing very aggressively many years worth of sediment that we feel like has built up in the line itself,” Pelham said. “So we are working on that very aggressively.”
Designated Manager of the Tennessee Board of Utility Regulation Ross Colona said his goal is to make sure that there is healthy, safe, and as cheap as possible water in Spencer. Colona said Spencer is in good hands with the Warren County Utility District.
“When we are looking at a solution for how to keep the rate as low as possible and have the safest service provided to customers we looked to Warren County Utility District,” Colona said. “Because Warren County Utility District has a proven track record of running a magnificent utility system.”
Colona said the state would have mandated a relationship between the two entities had they not worked it out on their own. Colona said had an order been submitted by the board, the partnership would have lost out on state funding for the upgrades and projects. Warren County Utility District received a $9.5 Million Grant to fund the projects. Colona said the merger was inevitable.
“It had to happen to ensure the best service at the best rate possible for the current customers of Spencer not only now but also in the long run,” Colona said.
Spencer Mayor Alisa Farmer said the city has received some other grants for projects but the deadline for those projects is September of 2026. One of the projects proposed by Pelham is implementing sediment basins at the water treatment plant.
Pelham said he hopes the merger will be fully complete by the end of the year. Farmer said she applauded the Board of Aldermen for approving the merger.
“This was not an easy decision for us to make,” Farmer said. “On behalf of being able to lose pretty much control of our utility, but I want to commend our board for having the guts to make some difficult decisions that needed to be made.”
