BRISTOL, Tenn. (WJHL) — Violations at Bristol, Tenn.’s sewer treatment plant that resulted in more than a half-million gallons of wastewater reaching Boone Lake have resulted in a $56,475 penalty from the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC).
Bristol will have to pay $11,295 of that amount up front but will avoid the remaining cost if it submits a corrective action plan, completes the plan’s steps and “maintains substantial compliance” with its permit.
The Sept. 25 TDEC order cited 20 self-reported overflows from Bristol’s Beaver Creek sewer plant that occurred between June 2021 and March 2023. The vast majority of overflow volume came during five incidents in February 2022, when a total of 497,040 gallons was reported to have overflowed.
The plant also exceeded limits for certain effluents over the two-year period, including five times for E. coli.
The TDEC order, which the city accepted Friday, requires it to submit the corrective action plan and engineering report within 90 days. That plan must “address how the effluent limitation exceedances and overflows listed … will be eliminated.”
The city also must submit quarterly progress reports during the action plan’s duration. For a year after completing the plan, effluent violations can result in a $5,000 fine per notice of violation up to a maximum of $20,000.
