Pit blasting underway for a project set to upgrade Spencer’s water facilities.
Warren County Utility District General Manager Anthony Pelham said a new raw water intake pump station will be constructed, to take water from the Caney Fork. Pelham said Spencer’s water source is the city lake, which is full of organics, manganese, and iron.
“Those do have some potential long term health issues if they are consumed in very high qualities and very high concentrations,” Pelham said. “Spencer’s has been low, but they have been in violation of EPA and state control limits. And so, we’re in the process of trying to mitigate that and correct that problem.”
Pelham said eventually, the Caney Fork River will be the primary water source. Pelham said the pump station will be built adjacent to the river, near the 111 Boat Ramp.
Pelham said the project is essentially a pit next the river. River water will run into that pit before it is pumped out to the water treatment plant in Spencer. Pelham said after treatment, water would be distributed into the public drinking system.
“The 111 Boat Ramp on Caney Fork River will have some intermittent closures just during the blast and during some excavation times,” Pelham said. “There is local signage and a gate there to prevent anyone from launching a boat. At that point, they would need to divert down to the Reno Bridge, which is downstream.”
Pelham said disruptions near the boat ramp would end when blasting and excavation are done.
The project is still in its early stages. Pelham said the pre-blast survey has been completed. Drilling and shooting will come next, and holes are already being made.
Pelham said the first round of drilling and shooting could begin over the next couple of weeks, weather permitting.
“They will drill and shoot again to get down to the depth that’s necessary for the wet well, and then there would be no more drilling and shooting once that’s done,” Pelham said. “Then, it would just be construction, excavation with excavators and backhoes to excavate deep enough. Then it would be construction with rebar, steel, and normal pump station construction.”
Pelham said the project could be complete as early as next spring.
