Norris Water Commission looks to back up spring-fed water system
A truck drives through Clear Creek on the low-water bridge on Lower Clear Creek Road in Norris after heavy spring rains earlier this year. Just upsteam a quarter-mile from this pioint is the Norris water treatment plant, which draws fresh water for Norris from a near- by spring in the Norris Municipal Watershed. (photo:G Chambers Williams III )
The city’s water treatment plant on Lower Clear Creek Road gets every drop of its water from the nearby spring.
During its July 10 meeting, the City Council approved a contract for $15,895 with Cannon & Cannon Consulting Engineers to help the city develop an emergency water source in the event the flow of water from the spring is interrupted.
Norris Water Commission Chairman Chuck Nicholson, who also serves on the City Council, said the Cannon & Cannon contract is meant to advise the city on applying for grants that could pay for detailed engineering and design studies to develop an alternate water source.
“There’s been for some time recognition that the current city water supply may not be adequate like during an extended drought,” Nicholson told The Courier News. “We don’t have any backup water supply in case we have to supplement the spring.
“We’re continuing to look into the issue with the possibility of connecting to the Anderson County Water Authority water lines. But we have not done the necessary engineering studies to figure out how that might be done.”
Clear Creek doesn’t have enough water to supplement the spring, because it’s mostly fed by the spring itself, Nicholson said.
Where the city would tie into the ACWA’s water supply has yet to be determined, but one suggestion that has come up during Water Commission meetings is somewhere west of the city in the Hillvale Road area.
The ideal solution would be to run a line from the ACWA water supply to where the water could be pumped up into the main Norris water tank at the top of Reservoir Hill Road to supply the city in the same way the spring does, city officials have suggested.
“The connection to the Anderson County Water Authority is one possibility,” Nicholson said. “But there has also been talk about withdrawing water directly from the Clinch River below Norris Dam, which would take a lot of infrastructure and may not be a very feasible option.”
But the city isn’t close to finding and implementing a solution, Nicholson said.
“It’s something we recognize is needed in the long term, but it’s not going to happen right away,” he said.
The city had been looking at the possibility of getting a grant through the COVID-19 “relief” provided by the American Resue Act Fund.
But Nicholson said “the preliminary feedback we got is that for this current grant funding cycle, we likely would not qualify for this because the city would not score highly enough” in the competitive grant process.
“That’s because of the combination of need and the financial resources the city has,” Nicholson said.
Nicholson said he can remember only one time that there was a fear about the spring not providing sufficient water to the city.
“I recall a time in the late ‘80s when there was a concern,” he said. “But I don’t recall any restrictions put on water usage at that time.”
Still, city officials say they do believe there should be an emergency backup water source, just in case.