New wastewater plant vital to future growth for Chapel Hill

By KATE COIL

TT&C Assistant Editor

After nearly 40 years, the town of Chapel Hill has a new wastewater treatment plant that protects the community’s unique ecosystem and positions it for further growth.  

Chapel Hill Utilities Director Donny Groves said the previous wastewater facility went into operation in 1988. 

“It was a standard lagoon system, a biological, natural system,” Groves said. “The state was offering a grant at the time for a small diameter gravity system that went into the lagoon. Over the years, the growth of the town meant the town was having to change limits and restrictions on the system.” 

As Chapel Hill has grown, Town Administrator Phillip Dye said the need for a new plant became more apparent. With that growth also came the introduction of more “solids” or items that shouldn’t find their way into the system.  

“Solid can be anything from waste to kids toys,” Dye said. “You would be amazed about what gets flushed. Also, so-called flushable wipes are not flushable. They may go down the drain, but they shouldn’t be flushed. [The new plant] will accept what the original plant didn’t, and items that caused a lot of problems. The original plant often took gray water from septic tanks, while the new system takes it directly into the plant.” 

Another concern is that Chapel Hill’s primary water source is the Duck River, the most biologically diverse river in North America and home to numerous endangered and rare species. It has also been frequently included on the list of America’s Most Endangered Rivers and, since 2024, the Duck River Watershed Planning Partnership(opens in a new tab) has been working to balance water conservation, habitat protection, water loss management, and drought preparedness while maintaining responsible economic growth. 

“Six or seven years ago – before either Phillip or I were here – the state came down on the town pretty hard,” Groves said. “Since we opened the plant, we have been put in good standing with TDEC. Everything is much better than it was.” 

The Duck River also runs through Henry Horton State Park, which borders Chapel Hill and serves as a major draw for recreation and tourism dollars in the area.  

“Henry Horton is redoing its entire lodge and is going to have more than 200 rooms,” Dye said. “They just had ribbon-cutting on that. We actually service that area for them. They pump all of their sewage into our system. We do get a few sales tax dollars from folks visiting the park. It goes into that one big pot and that really helps us pay for everything from wastewater to education.”  

While there was a definite need for the plant, financing such a major project is often difficult for small towns with a limited tax base like Chapel Hill.  

“We face a lot of the same challenges as a big city,” Dye said. “However, they usually have larger municipal departments and more employees. We tend to wear a lot of hats around here. I have been fortunate. We were able to get with the Tennessee Municipal Bond Fund (TMBF), which  had just launched a new program for a 30-year loan. We were the first town in the state to take part in that new program, and it has worked like a charm.” 

TMBF Executive Vice President and COO Kevin Krushenski said Chapel Hill received a $16,975,000 loan through the program.  

“We were very thankful for the opportunity to work with Chapel Hill on this project and for their willingness to help TMBF launch our new long-term fixed rate loan program,” Krushenski said. “The town has such a dedicated and professional group of staff and leaders. One of the most rewarding parts of our jobs is when you get to see loans turn into tangible assets. This wastewater plant is an asset that the Chapel Hill community can be proud of for generations.” 

 Dye said the ability to pay on the loan over time rather than all at once has also benefited the town.  

“It’s allowed us to keep a lot of money in the bank,” Dye said. “The Bond Fund and Kevin Krushenski really helped us out, and we thank them for that. We were able to finance this in a way a town of our size can pay back.” 

During initial planning stages, Dye said city officials toured similar facilities in Dresden and Trenton that helped them gain a bigger picture of how their own plant would work. After two years of planning and working with organizations like TMBF, Kentucky-based Stiff Contractors, and J.R. Wauford for engineering, the plant is now online and operational. Dye said the new plant serves 1,180 residential and commercial customers and about 10 customers who are outside the city limits.  

The new plant has the ability to process more than double its current customer base, meaning there is plenty of room for Chapel Hill to grow in the future. A single basin at the new plant can process up to 330,000 gallons of wastewater a day, whereas the previous plant could only process 170,000.  

“There was no internet when the original plant was built, so there have been changes,” Groves said. “The new plant is still a biological, natural system but the new technology allows us to treat a lot more and get it through the system. It’s a mechanical plant, but it’s still a natural process. One thing this project is doing to allow us to do is continue to develop. We will be able to serve more residential and commercial. 

“We have doubled in size and we can steadily keep adding to this plant instead of just building a brand new sewer plant,” Groves said. “We have plenty of capacity to grow. Each basin we grow would add 100,000 gallons in capacity without adding much cost. The more customers we have, the less it costs to treat it.” 

Dye said this major investment in Chapel Hill’s infrastructure will serve the city for years to come. 

“I have learned so much in this process,” Dye said. “Going off what other cities have done helped us decide to go this way. We have also done a lot of upgrades in the city itself, putting in new infrastructure and replacing old pipes. A lot of those pipes were the same age as the plant because they were put in as one big project. We put in new lift stations to break down solids as they go through the city. We are trying to prepare for the future.”