The city of Decherd will soon launch its biggest capital project to upgrade and expand the capacity of its sewer system needed to keep pace with the growth of Nissan and other businesses in Franklin County.
Decherd’s municipal water authority plans to begin building a new $11.3 million water treatment facility on Wagner Creek to more than double the sewage treatment capacity to 2.65 million gallons per day.
“With the continued expansion of our Nissan engine plant and other industry coming to town, we’ve got to expand our sewage capacity,” Decherd Mayor Robin Smith said Thursday. “Nissan has been a great addition to our community, and it is attracting a lot of spinoff jobs so we need to expand our infrastructure.”
Since 1997, Nissan’s powertrain plant in Decherd, Tenn. has expanded its engine production for both Nissan and Infiniti vehicles built at assembly plants in both Smyrna, Tenn., and Canton, Miss. Over the past 25 years, Nissan has invested $1 billion in Decherd and continues to expand its operations, Nissan communications manager Parul Bajaj said.
“With the completion of the $319 million Infiniti Decherd Powertrain Plant and ongoing growth at the Nissan Decherd Powertrain Plant, total jobs at those two facilities has reached approximately 1,900,” he said. “This is up from approximately 1,200 jobs just five years ago.”