Tommy Barnes – Sheffield Wastewater Treatment Plant Manager
SHEFFIELD – Tommy Barnes has his work cut out for him nowadays. And he keeps adding to the workload, because that’s just the kind of guy he is. Barnes, who manages the City’s wastewater treatment plant and oversees the huge job of rebuilding it to State standards, presented a plan to the Council for more improvements.
“It’s for a new sewer line… a big one to replace the old one that presently runs right at the river’s edge,” he told The Quad-Cities Daily. “It’s been in place for about 60-years and has caused us a lot of trouble as it has aged.” Barnes was referring to problems with the pipeline’s integrity that, as the steel pipe has aged, has been weakened by storms, falling rocks on the exposed sections of the pipe, troubles caused by boat traffic and collisions. You name it… it has probably happened to this pipe.
The problem is, when the pipe’s integrity is lost due to a falling rock or some other structural failure, there’s a lot of raw sewage that flows into the Tennessee River. It is a problem that has been forefront in the minds of Utility workers, and now, it appears that there may be a solution at hand. It all depends on the Alabama Department of Environmental and Community Affairs (ADECA). They must approve the application, but it looks promising.
Barnes presented the City Council a plan that has been developed through the North Alabama Council of Local Governments (NACOLG) engineers. It involves replacing the old 38-inch line with a new pipe and lift station. The improvements would be located underground which would mitigate any spill damage into the river. The cost of the pipe and lift station would be about $5-million. the money will come from a grant from some disaster relief funds being managed by (ADECA).
The location of the pipe is down on the river from Riverfront Park’s kid’s playground, west to the waterfront wastewater treatment plant.
Bluffs below Cliff Haven in Sheffield, Alabama
Some may think that the project involves the sewer line that runs along the lower part of the bluff near O’Neal Bridge, however that’s a different section of pipe than the one being presently considered. Barnes says that that particular pipe needs attention also, however it is not covered in this grant application.
The Sheffield City Council agreed to hold a public hearing on the grant application July13 at the regular City Council meeting. The application must be submitted by July 22.
