NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A battle is brewing in the Tennessee legislature over what to do about more than a hundred failing sewage systems across the state.
Developers built these systems to serve neighborhoods not connected to city sewer lines.
State inspectors recently found half of the state's 360 active rural sewage systems were out of compliance, with some allowing partially treated sewage to flow into surrounding yards, rivers and streams.
Local governments are opposed to a bill — SB564 / HB803. They said it would make the problem worse because it would remove some of the few remaining guardrails for developers who build the systems.
The bill's sponsor, Senator Mark Pody, R-Lebanon, defended his bill and said it puts more responsibility on developers to fix systems if they fail.
Cris Corley has lived along Old Hickory Lake in Wilson County for more than 20 years and has watched developers build new neighborhoods with big houses.
"Everybody that's moving to Middle Tennessee, especially from California. They want to live on a lake," Corley said.
Because there is no city-sewer service, the developers also build their own sewage treatment systems.
"It's supposed to handle all the waste from these homes, but they do it very poorly. They're failing all around my neighborhood here," Corley said.
Corley showed pictures of thick algae blooms that come up in the summer on Old Hickory Lake that he says are because of runoff from failing systems.
"They're putting these systems all along the shoreline, and it's just producing bad water," Corley said.
He's now worried about Sen. Pody's bill.
"It's basically taking local government authority out of the equation and putting it in the hands of developers," Corley said.
Sen. Pody said the purpose of his bill is to hold developers more accountable for building failing systems.
He said he was concerned by the large number of failing systems that state inspectors found.
"We need to do something about that. We need to fix these, so going forward there's going to be some accountability. What's happening now is not working," Sen. Pody said.
But environmental groups and local governments said the bill is misguided.
Currently, there are no state-wide standards for building rural sewage systems, so some counties set their own rules that developers must follow.
In Rutherford County, the Consolidated Utility District — which serves more than 200,000 customers — forces developers to follow strict guidelines, like limiting the number of homes that can be connected to a system.
But Pody's bill would allow developers to go around rules set by local utilities.
The Tennessee Association of Utility Districts said the bill "seeks to let a developer choose the wastewater treatment system for a new community and bypass the local utility."
Sen. Pody responded and said his bill would force developers to put up a bond to pay for repairs if the system does not work.
"The developers don't like that at all. They don't want to be held responsible for this bonding issue," Sen. Pody said.
But environmental groups say developers actually support his bill.
They said the bond has no real teeth because the bill does not say how large the bond must be or how long it would last.
When we asked about that, Pody blasted those against his bill.
"They have proposed nothing. They are just against things at this point. I've got to do something to make sure this doesn't happen in the future. I can't do anything about what has happened in the past, but I can certainly make sure that going forward we have accountability," Sen. Pody said.
But there are other proposals for how to deal with the failing systems.
The Southern Environmental Law Center has proposed — and even written draft legislation — that would establish statewide design standards that developers would have to follow.
They also proposed denying permits to companies with a history of violations.
Corley wants more oversight for developers and worries he'll have to leave his home if things don't get better.
"I may have to move if something can't be done to fix this, "Corley said of the failing systems.
Both sides agree things are not working right now.
But they disagree on the answer.
Sen. Pody's bill is up for a hearing in the Senate Energy, Agriculture and Natural resources Committee on Wednesday.
