Bell Buckle will be contacting the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) soon about lifting a director's order against the town in regards to their sewer system.

Water manager Ronnie Lokey reported to the Board of Mayor and Aldermen Tuesday that work was basically completed on the town's new equalization basin, which was required for the city to comply with a Director's Order issued by TDEC.

According to the state order issued in 2005, there were 61 instances of bypass overflow with the waste water system in 2004 which allowed an estimated 1.6 million gallons of partially-treated wastewater to enter Bell Buckle Creek.

The basin would store all of the inflow and infiltration during wet weather, rather than bypassing it into the creek, and then run it through the treatment plant when the flows go back down.

All that remains to be done will be the grading, seeding and strawing around the tank, which will have to wait until drier weather. The tank was also filled to test for leaks, but none were found.

However, while the tank was filled to capacity, rains began and the city had to bypass into Bell Buckle Creek. Lokey said that the town now has the capacity to pump around the existing station to the waste water plant.

Lokey also told the board that equipment and electrical service for a new telemetry system for Bell Buckle's water system are being put in place. The system will be used to check the levels of all the system's tanks and pumps remotely.

The board also voted to apply for a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) to help make repairs to their water system.

The grant application is for $252,000 of the total project cost. The total cost of the project is $300,000, with the balance of $48,000 to be paid from Bell Buckle's water account.

Alderperson Jenny Hunt said last month that the town is in a good position for a water grant to deal with the many leaks that have plagued the system, but the board chose to wait on a report from Joe Richards, who has been performing an leak detection survey since December.

Two main line leaks were repaired this month and Lokey said that the town continues to check for leaks in order to hold down the water loss, which had dropped from 39 percent in October in November to 25 percent in January.

Lokey also said that the town is preparing to fill out the paperwork to renew Bell Buckle's discharge permit. According to state officials, discharge parameters will likely be changed.

"EPA (the Environmental Protection Agency) and TDEC are imposing stricter limits on the effluent being discharged to the waters of the state and we could face higher treatment costs in the future because of this," Lokey told the board.