The City of Alcoa, Tennessee, in conjunction with the City of Maryville, today featured the location of the discharge point of the temporary raw water intake pipeline on the Little River. The site is located across the river on the opposite bank from the existing raw water intake structure. This is a temporary solution designed to help alleviate the lack of flow in the Little River drainage basin.

Alcoa City Manager, Mark Johnson, indicated he has been very impressed with the almost non-stop working collaboration between the City of Alcoa and City of Maryville engineering professionals once a plan of action was developed. Mr. Johnson said, “Both cities are fortunate to have the dedicated individuals available to us to make this type of project a reality.”

Blount County, as well as all of East Tennessee, is in a record drought. The lack of rainfall locally has stressed the traditional source of drinking water for Alcoa and Maryville. The 2017 strategic capital plan for the water system included a new raw water intake structure in the Fort Loudoun impoundment. The persistent nature of the drought has caused this capital project to be accelerated. In an effort to address the growing problems associated with the continuing drought and it’s impact on area residents and business, a temporary plan was devised that could be used as a part of the permanent solution as well. The new intake structure will be a temporary floating device placed in a deep pool near the Rockford dam on the Little River. The new raw water transmission pipeline will be laid on top of the ground for expediency of construction. Once the flows in the Little River have stabilized to sustainable levels the new pipeline will be taken out of service and buried in place for a more permanent installation.

Simon deVente, City of Alcoa Assistant Public Works Director/Chief Engineer is the lead Project Engineer in this cooperative effort. He indicated that he hopes to have the construction completed by the end of October 2007. He further stated that the contractor, Morgan Contracting, has done a remarkable job completing his tasks in a timely manner.

Alcoa Mayor Don Mull, was quick to recognize Mr. deVente. He said, “I have been amazed that Simon has been able to direct a long term strategic capital initiative for the water system into a real time implementation based action plan in such a short period of time.” Mayor Mull indicated he was also appreciative of all the quick work and tremendous support from the various regulatory agencies. The State of Tennessee, the TVA and the Corps of Engineers have all made implementing a solution quickly a joint priority.