Water pollution troubles KUB, EPA

Thanks to the health of a small creek that passes through Tyson Park and empties into the Tennessee River, Knoxville is again a highly-ranked city.

Knoxville rates near the top of several lists — in the top 10 as worst city in the nation for air pollution and, now, in the top 20 in Tennessee for polluted waterways such as Third Creek.

And the signs are all there, from the sudsy, oily residue collecting in pools of backwater to the manmade signs lining the creek’s banks throughout Tyson Park, warning people to not touch, much less drink, the water.

Michael McKinney, professor in the department of earth and planetary sciences, said in a recent interview that some of the major sources of pollutants in Third Creek are surface run-off, sewage and sediment.

“Sewage is the most toxic pollutant in our society and we have 10,000 times the limit in Third Creek. Hook worm, hepatitis, dysentery are a few of the particularly virulent organisms found in the polluted waters,” he said.

Renée Hoyos, executive director for the Tennessee Clean Water Network since 2003, agreed that sewage run-off is the “most drastic” of the pollutants entering Third Creek.

Both Hoyos and McKinney said that the Knoxville Utility Board has been sued several times by the Environmental Protection Agency and the state because of the problem with sewage run-off. At several locations, the monopoly’s sewage piping crosses the creek as it flows from Northwest Knoxville and into the river at a delta near UT’s College of Agriculture campus.

“KUB has an archaic leaking sewage infrastructure. What happens is whenever it rain ... all the stuff comes washing out of old pipes so you get a lot of raw sewage,” McKinney said.

“In most places, urban creeks are pretty much considered to be a write-off. People have been using them for their waste since they settled here, but in Tennessee, it’s especially bad because we have some of the weakest environmental laws in the country by far,” he said.

McKinney also said that Knoxville doesn’t have the developmental controls that other cities have. Some cities require a buffer of vegetation along the creek to help prevent erosion and debris from entering the waterways.

“Urban creeks are the creeks we visit the most and it’s a shame that we have to drive to the Smokies to see trout and fish. It’s a shame that we can’t take our kids to the creeks where we live,” McKinney said.

According to McKinney, money has been a significant factor preventing the clean up of Knoxville waterways. The Bush administration, he said, has cut federal money that was available for projects such as the clean up of waterways.

Hoyos said that KUB has had trouble with sewage overflows and that the lawsuit resulted in a consent decree to correct the problem.

“Third Creek hasn’t reached water quality standards in 10 years,” she said. “But hopefully in the next 10 years, the decree will mean no more sewage will enter the creeks.”

With decrees and a public information campaign, KUB is in the process of addressing the problem.

In response to the lawsuit, KUB began the program, Partners Acting for a Cleaner Environment, known as PACE 10.

The KUB web site, http://pace10.kub.org/pace10.shtml, said that, “The comprehensive new program includes construction and maintenance projects to meet the requirements of the May 20, 2003, Agreed Order between KUB and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation. To help ensure that the program has the greatest impact on area waterways, KUB expanded customer education, community outreach, and public input components over what is required under the order.”

The Web site cites efforts being made to achieve a cleaner environment but warns that construction projects will likely disrupt traffic and that consumers will see rate increases as a result of the clean up efforts.