By Tabitha Evans Moore
EDITOR & PUBLISHER

LYNCHBURG, Tenn. — Moore County’s last galvanized water lines are on their way out. On Highway 55, though, the old pipe isn’t going anywhere.

The Metro Utility Department board heard a revised plan Tuesday night for replacing the aging galvanized lines along Highway 55 and in Chapman Acres, the last two places in MUD’s system where they remain. Instead of digging up the 2-inch line that runs along the highway and between buildings near the post office, MUD will disconnect it, leave it buried and reconnect each customer to other water mains nearby.

The project involves both the water main and the service lines that branch off it to individual homes and businesses, MUD Board Chairman Greg Guinn said.

Replacing the galvanized service lines is required under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Lead and Copper Rule Improvements. The rule targets galvanized lines because they can collect lead from older pipes upstream and release it into drinking water. Under the rule, water systems must submit an inventory and replacement plan to state regulators by Nov. 1, 2027, and finish replacing covered lines by the end of 2037.

The main is a different problem. It has to come out of service because there’s no practical way to replace it where it sits.

NO ROOM TO DIG

The existing line runs right beside the sidewalk along Highway 55. The state’s right-of-way ends at the back of that sidewalk, a gas line runs beneath it, and fiber-optic cable runs nearby. Between buildings near the post office, there’s even less room.

“There’s not room, and there’s no feasible way without maybe buying properties from people,” the department’s engineer Bryant Griffin told the board.

Digging up the old line and laying a new one in the same trench would have meant giving customers temporary water service for several weeks, he said. Boring service lines under the highway from mains on the other side is cheaper and leaves the old line alone.

“Why do all that? Just hook it to the other side of the road,” he said.

Under the revised design, presented at Tuesday’s meeting, homes along Highway 55 now served by the old line will be reconnected through lines bored under the highway. A single 1-inch line can serve two houses. About three homes near an alley on property now owned by Jack Daniel’s will be served by a new 2-inch line tapped into an existing 6-inch main. Six services between the buildings near the post office will be reconnected with three 1-inch lines. Some meters there sit behind about four feet of concrete steps that crews will have to bore beneath.

MUD will need service-line easements from some property owners, including the owner of the post office building, which the post office leases from B&G Enterprises, according to Griffin.

Residents will still see some construction. The bores require several small sidewalk cuts, about two feet each, because the gas company won’t allow boring beneath its line.

MUD has not announced when construction will begin, how long it will take or whether customers will lose water service when they are switched to the new lines.

HALF A MILLION DOLLAR PROJECT

The board approved moving forward in September based on a preliminary estimate of $583,330 for the Chapman Acres and Highway 55 work, including engineering and a contingency. The engineer said he does not expect the revised design to cost more.

The board voted 4-0 Tuesday on the second reading of borrowing authority of up to $1 million to cover the project. The 20-year loan’s rate is fixed for only five years at a time, so Moore County must amend its debt policy to allow it. That amendment is expected to go before the Metro Council next week.

The department plans to submit the Highway 55 design to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation this month. Design work for Chapman Acres is largely finished, according to discussion at the meeting.

Once the state approves the plans and MUD secures easements, the old galvanized main along Highway 55 will be disconnected and left in place. •

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