HOA Position on TAP Tank Projects
The Tellico Action Plan (TAP) is the POA plan to upgrade Tellico Village water and sewer infrastructure to preserve the quality of life and protect our property values. Detailed information is available on the POA website (Water & Sewer – Tellico Village Property Owners Association (tellicovillagepoa.org)) including the latest status updates, over 30 homeowner questions and answers, and a place to ask any question that you may have. The following pertains to the main village water and sewage tank installations, as they seem to be the most controversial of the 5 projects.
The TAP projects which the POA Board recently approved a fee to pay for, are to manage the risk of a failure of components in the water or sewage system. Neither the water tank project nor the sewage holding tank project are required for the systems to work. Both are designed to improve the performance or control casualties to the system.
REGARDING THE WATER TANK
We have sections of the Village where we have low water pressure, especially if the water usage is high. This is not only inconvenient but could present a danger in the event of a fire. Jacobs Engineering recommended that we replace our existing potable water pumps with upgraded variable speed pumps to maintain proper pressure at all times. These pumps would have to be large enough to supply water at the proper pressure during peak demand times but also be able to sense a reduction in usage and slow down accordingly. This approach has a high initial cost and continuous high operation and maintenance costs for the life of the system. The POA decided that they could accomplish the same thing at a lower life cycle cost by building an elevated tank with a small pump to continuously keep it full. Although it stores water, its main purpose is to maintain water pressure throughout the village. It provides the added benefit of providing pressure in a power outage without an uninterruptible power supply such as a diesel generator or batteries.
REGARDING THE SEWAGE HOLDING TANK
The Village main lift station currently has a small holding tank. As designed, our system currently pumps over 374,000 gallons of sewage per day to the Loudon Utility Board, plus more with water intrusion due to rainfall. If sewage inflow to the main lift station were to exceed our pumping output capacity or if sewage service was interrupted for any reason, such as pipe break or LUB unable to accept sewage, that tank would quickly overflow, even on a dry day. As the tank is near the lake, sewage would flow into the lake, creating cost for cleanup and the possibility of a state order directing installation of a holding tank anyway. The result could involve negative publicity that could affect home values.
The HOA supports the POA on accomplishment of these projects, primarily because of the risk mitigation they provide in the event of a casualty.
Submitted by HOA President Harry Rucker and Technology VP Bob Bilodeau