Agreement kicks off streambank project at Carthage Wastewater Treatment Plant

CARTHAGE, Tenn. (Aug. 23, 2024) – Officials signed a Project Partnership Agreement today to officially begin a streambank stabilization project on the Cumberland River that will prevent further bank erosion that currently endangers the Carthage Wastewater Treatment Plant.

With the stroke of a pen, Carthage Mayor Steve Babcock and Lt. Col. Robert Green, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District commander, established a cost share partnership between USACE and the town to initiate the project’s design and construction phases.

“I really think it’s significant to emphasize the word “Partnership” whenever a community and the Corps of Engineers implement a Project Partnership Agreement,” Green said. “A project like this one truly requires a close relationship between the government and non-federal sponsor to ensure that we fulfill our respective responsibilities.”

Green said that moving forward, USACE and the town of Carthage will work closely together to deliver the project’s betterments for the people, the citizens, that depend on this wastewater treatment plant.

Erosion is currently eating away at about 400 feet of the eastern streambank at Cumberland River mile 308. It is jeopardizing critical infrastructure, including a 150,000-gallon final digester tank and access road within the wastewater treatment plant. A plant failure or shut down would adversely affect the town and downstream communities, including vulnerable populations, and result in residents losing access to clean drinking water.

Carthage Mayor Steve Babcock said he very much appreciated representing the town at this ceremony, but he gave credit to former Mayor Sarah Marie Smith and the previous administration for initiating this project with the Corps of Engineers.

“I want to give credit to the previous administration for getting this process started, because they deserve that,” said Babcock. “They worked directly with our Wastewater Treatment Plant Supervisor Steve Key to get the ball rolling, and we just finished it up. I can’t say how appreciative I am that we are going to get the funding without busting our complete budget to fix this riverbank.”

Babcock stressed that he is excited to partner with the Corps of Engineers, and looks forward to working together moving forward on this important project to protect the wastewater treatment plant.

The Continuing Authorities Program in Section 14 of the Flood Control Act of 1946 authorizes USACE to study, design, and construct emergency streambank and shoreline protection projects not specifically authorized by Congress to prevent damages to highways, bridge approaches, public works, churches, hospitals, schools, and other non-profit public services.

The Corps of Engineers recently completed a $100,000 Emergency Bank Stabilization Feasibility Study under the Continuing Authorities Program for the Carthage Water Treatment Plant location. The federal government funded 100% of this study, with $50,000 of it covered by an appropriation in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The project delivery team identified the problems, opportunities, objectives, and constraints to guide plan formulation and outline measures to prevent further erosion. The feasibility study identified that there is a federal interest in the resolution of this water resource problem under the Section 14 CAP authority.

“The design and implementation of this project will effectively mitigate the erosion threat to the town’s treatment plant while avoiding impacts to potential environmental and cultural resources,” said USACE Nashville District Project Manager Chris Pickering.

Congressman John Rose, Tennessee District 6, who represents the town of Carthage in Washington, D.C., attended the signing ceremony and said this project is important because it’s emblematic of the way agencies like the Corps of Engineers can come together with local officials to get the job done.

“It represents the best of what the Corps does, and a project that needs to be done, that they helped identify the need for, and then stepped up, and working arm in arm and hand in hand with local officials to make sure that this work gets done” Rose said. “So this is exciting to be here today and see this project progress to the next phase where we are actually going to see the remediation happen, that needs to happen, to keep this project in operation serving the people of this community.”

Moving forward, Green said the Corps of Engineers is charged to design the project in consultation with the town of Carthage to determine methods required for construction, operation and maintenance of the project.

“Mayor Babcock, our entire project delivery team is excited to work with the town of Carthage to bring this project to fruition. I know our ‘Partnership’ will be grounded on mutual respect and trust, and together we will achieve and reinforce the streambank to protect this critical resource,” Green said.

Following the ceremony, Ricky Brown, assistant supervisor of the Carthage Wastewater Treatment Plant, said he began working at the plant in 1997, and remembers when the embankment of the Cumberland River extended out further. Over the years erosion has claimed about five feet of the riverbank and drying beds that used to be in that location.

“You could actually mow all around them and just over the years we noticed it getting more shallow, and 2010 is when I think they fell into the river. There was a fence on the other side of this fence, and it’s gone,” Brown said.

He said he is “tickled” to finally see this project get underway.

“If we are going to stay here, we need it fixed on account of this tank,” Brown said, referring to the 150,000-gallon final digester tank near the streambank. “We need it fixed. We don’t want to lose this tank into the river.”

The public can obtain news, updates and information from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nashville District on the district’s website at https://www.lrd.usace.army.mil/About/Districts/Nashville-District/ , on Facebook at www.facebook.com/nashvillecorps and on X (formerly Twitter) at www.twitter.com/nashvillecorps . Follow us on LinkedIn for the latest Nashville District employment and contracting opportunities at https://www.dhirubhai.net/company/u-s-army-corps-of-engineers-nashville-district .