Bluff City, Tenn., officials are upgrading storm water system to avoid fines

By: Mac McLean/Bristol Herald Courier | TriCities.com
Published: January 10, 2008

BLUFF CITY, Tenn. – City officials will find out in two weeks whether they have made enough storm water drainage improvements to avoid heavy fines and come into compliance with Tennessee law.

"Hopefully, we’re on the right path," said David Wilson, an engineer the city hired in August to manage its compliance efforts. "We’ve tried to do in the past five months what should have been done in the past five years."

The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation issued a notice of violation against Bluff City’s storm water program in July after an earlier inspection found it failed to meet several requirements contained in the city’s National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit.

Wilson said many of the violations were administrative in nature – such as the city does not have a properly trained employee who could manage its storm water program – and a failure to comply with the requirements could result in heavy fines from TDEC and other enforcement actions.

Wilson drafted a 28-step plan the city should follow to compliance. He gave the city’s Board of Mayor and Aldermen a less-than-stellar report on the efforts Wednesday night.

"We will have at least made an attempt on one item or another," Wilson said, adding the city still had plenty to do to fully meet the 28-step plan’s goals. "We’ve put a foot forward. Whether it is the best foot has yet to be said."

Wilson commended city officials on some of the efforts to meet the goals.

The board is set to approve a storm water ordinance, which spells out new regulations, when it meets today. It has also started training an employee to become the program manager.

"We just haven’t created the position or put the funding behind it," Vice Mayor Tom Anderson said, adding the steps could be taken as the city reviews its budget in the coming months. "We’ve taken a shot. It may be too little or too late, but at least we did something."

Wilson said the true test of Bluff City’s efforts would be on Jan. 24, when he is trying to schedule a TDEC inspection of the city’s storm water program. He said the agency has yet to take any enforcement actions against Bluff City and doubted the agency would try to revoke the city’s permit outright.

gmclean@bristolnews.com | (276) 645-2518