CLARKSVILLE, TN (CLARKSVILLE NOW) – Besides regular summer maintenance, Clarksville Gas & Water crews have spent the summer working to repair broken lines due to accidents.
Last week, one of the emergency repairs involved a crash in which a driver hit an exposed gas line off of Tylertown Road.
The driver was reaching for something on the floorboard and lost control, said Clarksville Police Lt. Charles Gill. “The vehicle went off-road, landing on an exposed gas line, causing damage,” Gill said.
Gas & Water spokeswoman Rhonda Fulton told Clarksville Now that some repairs are planned maintenance and some are emergency line breaks. “Clarksville Gas & Water crews are similar to construction crews and do most of their work and line repairs in the summer,” she said.
There have been 20 emergency repairs since May.
“Emergency repairs are usually caused by water main leaks, or happen just because something breaks in the system, and some are damaged by third parties. (The lines) can get damaged in wrecks,” she said.
Over 1,000 miles of water lines
With over 1,000 miles of just water lines to maintain, crews stay busy.
“There are 1,132.7 miles of water main lines; the equivalent of 78,955 meters,” Fulton said. “We have 6,985 fire hydrants, 78,955 water meters, and we have 15 water towers – 16 if you count the one that is offline and inactive – and four water booster stations,” she said.
Fulton said the water department’s Water Treatment Plant pumps 6.7 billion gallons a year through its facility.
The plant is at the end of Pumping Station Road, off the U.S. 41A Bypass, drawing from the Cumberland River just upstream from the Conservation Club docks.
A clean water report
Annual water reports show Clarksville has great quality H2O.
The report for 2021 shows water contaminants such as E.coli bacteria and lead are either non-existent or only detectable at low to mid-range acceptable levels.
Water turbidity is also tested, which is a significant indicator of how well the city’s water filtration system is working.
“We met the treatment technique for turbidity with 100% of the monthly samples below the turbidity limit of 0.30 NTU,” the report stated. “Turbidity is a measure of the cloudiness of the water. We monitor turbidity because it is a good indicator of the effectiveness of our filtration system.”
Second water treatment plant coming
New construction is underway that will help take some of the workload off the Water Treatment Plant, and catch up with and accommodate Clarksville’s growth.
“There is a new water treatment plant being constructed in North Clarksville that will alleviate some of the work being done by the main plant,” Fulton said. “It will have the capacity to treat 12 million gallons per day and the ability to be expanded in order to treat 36 million gallons per day.”
That second water plant will be on Barge Point Road, which is on the Cumberland River downstream from the confluence with the Red River and Trice Landing. The plant is in Phase 1 of construction.