Wells checked after Monteagle sewage spill

MONTEAGLE, Tenn. — Officials on Tuesday started hunting down private well owners on the west side of Monteagle Mountain whose water might hold contaminants from Sunday’s 100,000-gallon sewage spill.

About 25 private wells are downstream from the spill, said Tisha Calabrese-Benton, spokeswoman for Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.

Officials are sampling private wells at the base of Monteagle Mountain on the Pelham side of the mountain in Grundy County, Ms. Calabrese-Benton said. If TDEC finds contaminated wells, those residents can get bottled drinking water from the city of Monteagle, she said.

The spill presents no danger to public water systems in the area, officials said.

Bob Childress, president of the South Cumberland Community Association, said the spill could have a serious impact on plateau residents west of Monteagle.

“It just blows my mind to think of 100,000 gallons of raw sewage going down into the Elk River watershed,” Mr. Childress said. “This is a serious environmental event. I think the public needs to know what’s being done to address this, both from TDEC and Monteagle officials.”

Sewage spilled onto the ground and into Juanita Creek early Sunday when a steel wall at Monteagle’s primary treatment basin No. 1, built in 1986, collapsed. Inbound sewage was rerouted to another treatment basin Sunday, officials said.

Officials are trying to determine where the spill went once it entered Juanita Creek. The creek flows westward toward Gilliam Creek, which eventually flows into the Elk River.

Monteagle Mayor Charles Rollins said TDEC ordered city officials Tuesday to put dye into Juanita Creek to track the flow of water.

“We know that somewhere between a quarter- and a half-mile downstream that it goes into a cave,” Mr. Rollins said. No one is sure where the water goes from there, he said.

“We do know that there are people who use wells for drinking water at the foot of the mountain,” he said. “We’re not taking any chance at all that a family could become ill. Our neighbors downstream to us are our No. 1 concern.”

Residents with wells near Juanita and Gilliam creeks should not drink the water until it’s tested, he said.

Well water is safe for bathing, laundry and dishwashing, he said, but anyone who’s still worried should boil their water before using it.

TDEC discovered elevated levels of E. coli in Gilliam Creek from samples taken Sunday.

“There is a silver lining in this particular situation because it confirms that Juanita Creek likely does flow into Gilliam Creek,” Ms. Calabrese-Benton said.

That means underground geology is less likely to be fractured, therefore “water from Juanita Creek is less likely to be impacting the groundwater that charges people’s wells,” she said.