For immediate release March 16, 2006

WATER CONTACT ADVISORY RENEWED FOR SECTIONS
OF SUGAR FORK AND BIG BIGBY CREEKS IN MAURY COUNTY

Mt. Pleasant, Tenn. - The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation is renewing its precautionary water contact advisory for sections of Sugar Fork and Big Bigby Creeks in Maury County.

"It has not yet been determined whether the recent repairs made to the manhole that is overflowing have failed or if this is a different problem, but the Mt. Pleasant collection system is once again discharging untreated sewage at that point that is impacting Sugar Fork," said Dana Coleman, spokesperson for Environment and Conservation.

A previous advisory was issued on March 1, 2006, and had just been lifted earlier this week. A water contact advisory is a precautionary measure urging people to avoid water contact until the problem is addressed and an announcement is made that the advisory has been lifted.

The failure is located near Sugar Creek at the point where Highway 43 crosses it north of Mt. Pleasant. The water contact advisory begins there and applies to approximately five miles of stream, beginning at the overflow point on Sugar Fork Creek and continuing downstream to the confluence of Big Bigby Creek, then down Big Bigby Creek as far as the crossing of Highway 412.

The Department of Environment and Conservation is monitoring the situation and has directed the city and its consulting engineers to control the overflow point as quickly as possible and implement a permanent solution to the problem of chronic overflows at this point in the collection system.

Problems with the operation of the Mt. Pleasant wastewater treatment system, including both its treatment plant and collection system, were documented in a January 2004 Commissioner's Order issued by Environment and Conservation. The city has met with the department to develop an agreement for addressing its violations that would require eventual approval by the state Water Quality Control Board. Mt. Pleasant has also obtained financing to help address its infrastructure problems, and the department is anxious to see the system move forward with making improvements to resolve these issues as quickly as possible.

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For more information contact:

Dana Coleman
(615) 253-1916 (Office)