An order to conserve drinking water in Davidson County was lifted Monday. Metro Water Services has repaired the flooded K.R. Harrington treatment plant, which is now operating at half capacity.
Last month’s flooding submerged one of Nashville’s two water treatment plants and resulted in an order for residents to curb usage by half. Water department employees have worked round the clock for four weeks, with at least one manager putting in a 48-hour shift.
Metro Water Services director Scott Potter says completion of repairs shouldn’t be a license to go wild.
“I don’t want people to go out and water their yards like mad, wash their cars like mad. Give us some time to get things settled out.”
Potter says he hopes the conservation period will result in some long term changes in behavior, like reclaiming more non-potable water for irrigation.
The K.R. Harrington plant should be running at full capacity in the next few weeks.
The focus of Metro Water Services flood recovery effort now turns to a sewage treatment plant in Rivergate called Dry Creek. It had more extensive damage and will take much longer to fix.
Repairs to the flooded drinking water plant cost $42 million, much of which will be paid by FEMA. Dry Creek will cost an estimated $100 million, and Potter says the work will take months.
“We don’t have a good timeline because the electrical damage was so much more extensive and the waste water treatment process is so much more fragile.”
Right now, the plant is only partially treating sewage and doesn’t meet the standards set by the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
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