Tellico Area Services System breaks ground on $27 million water treatment plant expansion

The Tellico Area Services System broke ground Tuesday morning, Oct. 13, on an expansion of its water treatment facilities in Vonore, marking the first step toward upgrading a system already pushing the limits of its capacity. The new facility will handle 10 million gallons of water daily, replacing the current facility rated for 6.9 MGD.

Officials said the new, $27 million facility could be upgraded to 15 MGD without construction as demand grows.

Superintendent Mark Clinton said bonds, grant money and cash reserves will fund the project, keeping water rates unchanged.

“This year, we didn’t have a rate increase, and we don’t plan a rate increase for next year,” he said. “That’s something we’re extremely proud of.”

Staff anticipates construction to take about 600 days, with work finishing between April and June of 2028.

New capacity

TASS operates across Blount, Monroe and Loudon Counties. About 60% of its water production goes to wholesale customers including Friendsville, Madisonville and Sweetwater. The system also serves about 6,000 retail customers, Clinton said, and staff operates about 267 miles of water mains.

The group opened its first water treatment plant in 1977, pulling surface water from the nearby Tellico Lake. Clinton said the group tries to upgrade equipment roughly every 20 years.

The last major upgrade, he said, came in the 2000s. The group website advertises that the current plant treats about 4.75 MGD on an average day but regularly approaches capacity several times a month.

Officials attending Tuesday’s ceremony included Loudon County Mayor Buddy Bradshaw, state Sen. Tom Hatcher and state Rep. Lowell Russell. Representatives from the offices of U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn and U.S. Reps. Tim Burchett and Chuck Fleischmann also attended.

Clinton said the new facility will represent a significant step forward for the group’s tech.

“We’re upgrading to a new state-of-the-art ceramic membrane filtration facility that goes far beyond what we started out doing water for in this area,” Clinton told attendees. “We’re now doing water for a region.”

Commendation

On Tuesday, Bradshaw told The Daily Times that infrastructure development such as the new treatment plant is essential to meeting regional growth. Loudon County, he said, has grown significantly in recent years.

The county government oversees TASS alongside neighboring Monroe County. Bradshaw described the group as a “template of how intergovernmental agencies should work.”

“My hat’s off to Mark Clinton and all of his guys,” he said. “As we continue to grow, (the project) is going to be important, and I think this is going to be on the front end of the growth that we’re going to continue to see.”

Hatcher praised staff’s ability to secure grant funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration — a development Clinton attributed to Loudon County economic development representatives. The federal government announced that award in August, saying the funding came from cash set aside by the U.S. Department of Commerce for areas impacted by disasters.

Administration staff wrote that the new plant would “support business growth in the region following severe storms in 2024.”

Hatcher lauded the funding source as a way to avoid impacting local water rates.

“Any time we can upgrade any type of utilities to serve the community, we want to try to do that,” he said. “The board does a great job in making sure that what people are paying for, they’re getting their money’s worth.”