The Greeneville Water Commission and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation have entered into a new agreed consent order to continue addressing issues in the utility’s sewer system.
A copy of the order with TDEC can be found here.
The Water Commission and TDEC first entered into a consent order in 2018, and a renewed order was entered into on July 28. As a part of the order, the Water Commission must work to address exceedances of effluent limits and wastewater overflows. It also includes mandatory updated reporting in the short and long term.
According to the order, the Greeneville Water Commission self-reported 19 wastewater overflows in its system from March 2025 to February 2026. It is estimated that the overflows totaled about 79,000 gallons according to the report.
A large portion of the overflow total occurred in February when a pump station in the system malfunctioned and a pump ruptured, which flooded the pump station according to Greeneville Water Commission Assistant Superintendent and Engineer Eric Frye.
Frye noted that the order is something that the Water Commission willingly enters into, and is not a forced punishment. He noted that the renewed order, and being under the previous order has helped the Water Commission improve its sewer system and helps the utility secure more grant funding. He noted that the Water Commission asked TDEC to keep them under the consent order.
He noted that the main culprit of the wastewater overflows in the system have been due to aging were pipes that have holes in them. When it rains, those pipes are infiltrated with rainwater coming into the system through the pipes. That infiltration can overwhelm parts of the system and cause overflows.
“That’s why we’ve been doing all this sewer work around town. It’s to try to address this,” Frye said.
He noted about $20 million in sewer work has been done in Greeneville over the past six years.
The average flow to the Denzil Bowman Wastewater Treatment Plant is about 7 million gallons per day, but Frye said that in the past the flow could peak at 14 million gallons a day when rainy weather hit due to the sheer amount of infiltration into the system.
However, Frye said that due to sewer rehabilitation efforts the peak flow going into the wastewater plant has gradually decreased over the past few years and has now been reduced by half.
Frye said that addressing the neglected sewer system has taken time.
“It takes awhile to get in bad shape, and it takes awhile to get back in good shape,” Frye said.
Frye said that willingly entering into the order shows that the Water Commission is committed to improving its sewer system.
“We know we’ve got issues, and we are agreeing to these guidelines to say how much work we have to continue to do,” Frye said.
The Water Commission must pay a $6,255 fine to TDEC for the consent order, which includes the costs of writing up the order. There are $35,444 in additional fines that would be assessed to GWC if the reporting requirements outlined in the consent order are not followed.
The order also includes reference to a notice of violation to GWC in January 2025 after a plant inspection.
During the inspection, staff noted exceedances of permitted effluent limits, evidence of grease accumulation in treatment structures, outdated laboratory methods for effluent parameter analysis, incorrect collection of samples for analysis, inoperable equipment, temporary “fixes” that had not been permanently repaired, improper operation of equipment, and damage to security fencing. Staff also noted discrepancies between electronic reporting of SSOs in NetDMR and in MyTDEC Forms.
According to the order, GWC submitted an action plan to address the notice later that same month, and a final report of improvement actions taken by GWC was approved by TDEC in December 2025.
