BROWNSVILLE, Tenn.—Protests about the route the disposal of wastewater from the Memphis Megasite will take to the Mississippi River have caused another change in plan. Public outcry stopped an earlier proposal to dump the waste into the Hatchie River, and this time protests have apparently contributed to a decision to move the location of the end of the pipeline.
Published reports, and an attorney working on securing easements for the pipe, confirm that Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner Bob Rolfe, is saying the outfall will be moved two miles south of the present design. The water would have been dumped into the river near Randolph in Tipton County. Residents there said the location of the pipe would cause, during periods when the river is low, the water to be dumped on to dry ground instead of mixing with the river water, as is required. Apparently state officials believe they are correct.
The sewage disposal issue has been the largest problem so far for the mega-development. When the idea for the industrial opportunity was in its infancy developers proposed the used water would be piped to Brownsville and cleaned in a new state-financed treatment plant eventually dumping it into the Forked Deer River. Later, the plan was modified to use the Hatchie River which led to loud protests from everyone from casual river users to leading environmental and conservation groups.
A so-called “green plan” the state decried soon after the Hatchie debacle, also failed to gain traction. The state eventually was forced into the more expensive design; treating the water on site and piping it 35 miles to the Mississippi.
Will moving the pipe overcome the final hurdle? Still needed is a permit. Tennessee’s Department of Environment and Conservation is in charge of the license, and have so-far not signed off on the plan.
The state claims they’ve bought about 75% of the easements needed to get the pipe from the megasite to the river, and the attorney general’s office vows to sue landowners that won’t cooperate, lawsuits legal experts predict will be easily won.
