TACIR panel warns Tennessee'wide wastewater systems face aging assets, operator shortages and steep costs

A Tennessee Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations panel on water and wastewater operations and financing told commissioners that the state's wastewater systems face aging pipes, growing inflow and infiltration (I&I) problems and a shortage of licensed operators that together raise the risk of sewage overflows and costly repairs.

The commission convened a five'member panel that included Brooksy Carlton, assistant commissioner for community and rural development at the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development; John Greer, program director at the Tennessee Association of Utility Districts (TAUD); April Grippo, deputy director of technical and permitting programs at the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC); Vena Jones, state water infrastructure grants manager at TDEC; and Steve Wyatt, utility operations consultant at the Municipal Technical Advisory Service (MTAS).

"Inflow referring to stormwater flowing into sewers'we're just seeing more and more of that as we have these more frequent, more intense storms," TDEC's April Grippo said, describing how I&I overwhelms treatment plants and increases the likelihood of backups and overflows. Grippo said permitting for new wastewater systems can take six to 12 months and that TDEC is using overflow reporting to prioritize rehabilitation.

TAUD's John Greer underlined governance variation across the state. "Not all utilities are created equal," he said, noting differences between municipal utilities, utility districts and investor'owned systems in technical capacity, governing structures and access to funding.

MTAS consultant Steve Wyatt described workforce pressures: "Wastewater is expensive in Tennessee. It's complicated. It's a liability for the system that's running it," he said, adding that the operator workforce is aging (typical ages in the mid'50s) and that current certification pass rates hover near 45 percent, making recruitment and retention a statewide challenge.

TDEC's Vena Jones outlined recent investments and programs intended to address critical needs. She told the commission the state received a 2021 allocation of $1.35 billion for water and wastewater infrastructure and that TDEC and partners have directed large sums to local systems: "We have invested nearly $3,450,000,000 in the past 3 years on wastewater," Jones said, and cited roughly $477,000,000 in American Rescue Plan (ARP) funding and $254,000,000 in state revolving fund (SRF) monies awarded in recent years. Jones said the SRF program expects to direct roughly $250,000,000 a year toward critical wastewater needs over the next three to five years.

Panelists and members debated consolidation and mergers as potential fixes for small, under'resourced systems. John Greer noted a new fund administered by the Tennessee Board of Utility Regulation that can provide cash to help utilities merge and resolve financial distress. Executive Jeff Huffman and others urged incentives and state'level strategic planning to avoid leaving vulnerable rural communities behind amid regional growth pressures.

Members pressed panelists on package (decentralized) treatment plants, enforcement and bonding. Panelists said package plants are increasingly used for rural subdivision growth but can be difficult to regulate and maintain; TDEC said many enforcement actions start with notices of violation and can escalate to consent orders when operators fail to make timely improvements.

Panelists pointed to the state'wide scorecard TACIR and partners have been developing to identify systems with critical needs, and said they intend to use the scorecard in SRF and grant decisions to target funds. TAUD and MTAS emphasized training: utility district commissioners have required training since 2010 and municipal commissioners since 2017, a change panelists said is improving governance consistency.

The panel did not recommend a single technical fix; instead, presenters emphasized a toolbox approach: asset management planning, targeted ARP/SRF investment, operator recruitment and retention initiatives, stronger local oversight of package plants, and voluntary or incentivized regionalization where feasible.

The commission took no formal action on policy changes at the meeting but asked staff to continue the study and prepare a draft report for the next TACIR meeting.