Jan. 4—Members of the Cumberland Plateau Water Authority hope to start welcoming members to the new utility in the coming year, but they still have a lot of questions.

“This board has heard a number of perspectives about why things are happening or not happening in a particular direction,” said Greg Hanson, president of the water authority board. “There is a lot of that noise out there in the ether and, quite honestly, none of us know what is true.”

Hanson said Cumberland County Mayor Allen Foster and Crossville Mayor R.J. Crawford had requested a meeting with senior leadership of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation to understand how critical a regional water authority is to future water development on the Cumberland Plateau.

Everett Bolin, general manager of the Crab Orchard Utility District, said every time he developed an idea for new water supply, he was told the utility districts needed to work together on a “regional” plan for long-term water needs.

“They don’t want to give me a little water and them a little water and them a little water,” Bolin said. “They want us to do something for the region.”

He pointed to grants the state has funded this year to promote connecting his utility district with the city of Crossville and Harriman to provide additional water supply.

Area resident Randall Kidwell asked if the state would consider Cumberland County a large enough “region.”

“Even if everybody joins this thing, will they guarantee you can build a reservoir?” he asked.

The private act creating the regional water authority refers to the Cumberland Plateau, which does extend outside Cumberland County into Fentress County.

Kidwell compiled a history of water studies in Cumberland County stretching back into the 1930s. Kidwell worked for an engineering firm responsible for rural water projects and his father served on the Catoosa Utility District board of commissioners from its inception.

“I created this history so that you guys could use it as a weapon,” said Kidwell. “I’m not on the environmental side of this, even though I should be because I don’t want any expansion up here … I don’t want people to get the wrong idea.

“But somebody’s got to put these people on the spot. Say, ‘This is what we have done. This is what you said you were going to do — so do it.'”

Kidwell said the regional water authority should take their needs for a reservoir to permitting agencies like TDEC, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, National Park Service and others and just ask — where should it go?

“The Obed River, you might as well forget it,” Kidwell said, adding he’d been told years before regulators would not approve a large reservoir on Clear Creek, something the Catoosa Water Utility District tried for in the 1990s.

There are also environmental concerns on the Caney Creek watershed.

Kidwell’s history details endangered or threatened species identified in Cumberland County, including the Indiana Bat, the Alabama lamp mussel and Spotfin Chub.

The Obed River, which includes Clear Creek and Daddy’s Creek, was federally designated as a Wild and Scenic River in 1968. There was a great deal of concern raised about the construction of the Otter Creek impoundment that serves the Crab Orchard Utility District during the 1990s because it impounded a tributary to the Obed River.

Other water sources studied have included pipelines to large reservoirs such as Watts Bar Lake and Center Hill Lake.

Bolin countered he’d been told by state regulators not to “give up on an impoundment on Clear Creek.”

“It’s a matter of all of us getting together,” Bolin said. “It’s going to come through you, whatever you’re going to do,” he told water authority board.

Hanson said, “Those are certainly questions I want to ask. If there’s an unwillingness to commit to things along those lines, then a lot of what this board is attempting to do is for naught, in my opinion.”

Hanson said the effort was about more than just a name, but an effort to address the water needs of the entire region and not one utility district or community.

“They want a holistic approach,” Hanson said. “I don’t think it’s limited to Cumberland County.”

There is also a question of if the city of Crossville will join the water authority.

“The city is the biggest member that we need to join,” Jeff Freitag, board member, said. “To me, that’s our biggest hurdle, to get the city aboard.”

The city is currently seeking permits to raise the dam at Meadow Park Lake and increase its water storage ability. Recently, the state estimated more than twice the wetland and stream mitigation estimated by federal regulators. The higher mitigation increases the potential cost of the project, with current estimates of $50 million to $100 million.

The city’s water department operates two water supply lakes and serves customers directly through the city’s water department and Catoosa Water Department and it sells water to South Cumberland Utility District.

Last month, Kenneth Chadwell, attorney for the water authority, said he did not believe the city would need to hold a referendum if it elected to join the water authority. However, the city charter does have a process for the citizens to force a referendum on the matter.

That’s contrary to an opinion the city received from the Municipal Technical Advisory Service and its attorney, Randy York, however.

Hanson said he had shared Chadwell’s attorney with Crawford but had not had any response at this time.

The board also discussed hiring a general manager and consultant to assist as it moves forward with organizing the fledgling utility. In January, the board intends to discuss a job description and salary proposal to begin the search.

It will meet Jan. 8 at 6 p.m. at Cumberland Medical Center, conference rooms A&B.

Heather Mullinix is editor of the Crossville Chronicle. She covers schools and education in Cumberland County. She may be reached at hmullinix@crossville-chronicle.com.