The Middle Tennessee region has seen significant growth over the last several years with development pushing south into Maury County from the greater Nashville metropolitan area.  While this growth increases the demand for more drinking water, the area is also susceptible to extreme weather including severe thunderstorms, hail, and frequent tornadoes as well as both short term, and long-term drought conditions.   

To address both increased demand as well as future weather events, CPWS recently completed a multi-year water system planning effort that will better serve existing and future water customers. This planning effort resulted in a recommendation for the expansion of water treatment capacity to meet the growing water demand and provide redundancy for existing customers.  As the program has developed and in response to increased costs in construction over time, CPWS made the decision to expand treatment capacity on land acquired next to the existing water treatment plant. This expansion will provide up to 12 MGD in additional treatment capacity for a total capacity of 32 MGD and allow for redundancy in the event that a portion of the existing treatment facility is off-line for maintenance or other reasons.

Concurrent with CPWS’s own planning, the Tennessee Duck River Development Agency (DRA) has evaluated options to address regional water supply issues in the event of future drought conditions on the Duck River.  The DRA’s primary improvement recommendation for addressing these future conditions in the region includes the construction of a new CPWS raw water intake downstream of the City of Columbia on the Duck River.

To address future growth and vastly improve the reliability of the existing system, CPWS has embarked on a long-term capital program to increase raw water supply and expand treatment capacity and distribution for current and future generations in Maury County.

This program of work, collectively called CommunityH2O includes the following projects:

Treatment Expansion

• Upgrades to Columbia’s water treatment plant for improved reliability and resiliency.

• Expansion of Columbia’s water treatment plant capacity by 12 mgd on CPWS owned land adjacent to the existing water treatment plant.

Supply Expansion

• Construction of a new Duck River water intake located in the western portion of Maury County.

• Installation of a raw water transmission main from the new intake to Columbia’s water treatment plant.

These projects will collectively provide for continued reliability and delivery of drinking water to Maury County residents for decades.