When will the water be back on? That’s the pressing question for those who haven’t had a shower in three days, for family members of patient who were at Community Hospital, for residents of nursing homes, for restaurant owners, for those who aren’t able to lift a bucket of water to flush their toilets, for nearly 70,000 people all across Greene County.
The answer is: soon.
To address the crisis, four diesel-powered pumps have been deployed alongside the Nolichuckey River, right next to the devastated pumping station. The effort to install and activate these pumps in just 120 hours has been nothing short of Herculean, involving countless hours of labor and a bit of luck.
The pumping station was completely destroyed by unprecedented river levels. You might wonder why such a critical facility was built so close to a flood-prone area. Simply put, that’s where the water is. The pump house was engineered to withstand even the historic flood of 1977, but the levels reached last Friday night exceeded all expectations. The challenge lies in the physics of water: it’s incredibly difficult to lift water vertically. The intake pipes can hold around 1,000 gallons of water for every ten feet, amounting to 8,000 pounds of water. In contrast, pushing water horizontally is much easier.
According to Greeneville Water Superintendent Laura White, two pumps were operational by Wednesday morning, with the remaining two starting up by Wednesday evening. However, just because the pumps are running doesn’t mean water is immediately flowing to your faucet. The water must first travel approximately two miles through two pipes along Buckingham Road to reach the reservoir, one pipe measuring 20 inches in diameter and the other 24 inches.
The city reservoir acts as a 32-million-gallon storage pond. While that might seem like a lot, it will only sustain Greene County for two to three days. The average daily usage across Greeneville and its utilities hovers around 9 million gallons. During the harsh December of 2022, with frigid temperatures causing numerous water line breaks, the system experienced a flow of 12 million gallons per day. Those leaks strained the system, necessitating cutbacks to prevent a complete depletion of resources, a scenario we’re facing again following the recent flood.
Once the water reaches the reservoir, it is sent to the filtration and treatment plant, where it is cleaned and sanitized before being distributed to storage tanks and pipes throughout the county. The system is gravity-fed, meaning the tanks hold the water until you turn on your faucet.
When the water begins flowing into the pipes again, another critical challenge will arise. Water cannot be compressed, and it can generate significant pressure—just look at the damage to the Kinser Bridge. Rapidly pushing millions of gallons into empty pipes could result in broken lines beneath streets and in homes. Therefore, when the flow resumes, it will be essential to gradually pressurize the lines to maintain system stability. The last thing anyone wants is a burst pipe after days of waiting for water to return.
Additionally, moving that water to other utility districts presents another challenge. Some districts have lost the necessary infrastructure to accept water and will require more time to repair before normal service can be restored in those areas.
Finally, there may be boil notices or special instructions issued for preparing or flushing your lines when the water begins to flow again. We will share those updates on WGRV-WIKQ-WSMG.
While there is no specific timeline yet, progress is being made every day. Hundreds of dedicated men and women are working tirelessly to address this monumental disaster, many of whom are facing the same challenges as everyone else.
Here are some of the challenges and accomplishments of the last 120 hours
- Ensure the safety of the surviving water supply
- A new road had to be built to the station
- The building was overtopped with water with several trees are on the roof.
- Entire walls of the building were punched out by trees rushing down the river.
- Nearly every part of the apparatus inside the building was completely destroyed.
- The power lines to the building were washed away. The Water Commission and Greeneville Energy built redundant power lines from two directions to always have a backup. Both were washed away.
- Mud, sludge, and sand several feet deep in places had to be cleared.
- Trees and debris had to be cleared from the river bank to access the water.
- Four multi-million gallon pumps had to be located and brought to Greeneville in a matter of hours.
- Pads had to be built to hold the pumps.
- New pipes to draft water out of the river had to be brought in and installed
- The buried pipes to take the water away had to be excavated.
- The output of the pumps had to be retrofitted to the existing lines.
- Fuel supplies had to be secured to run the four pumps constantly to serve the system needs.
- The weather had to cooperate.
