CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — A Tennessee city is defending itself against a lawsuit over sewer discharges into the Cumberland River.
Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts said in a Wednesday news release that even if 24 million gallons (91 million liters) of sewage had been released over the past five years, as the lawsuit claims, it would be “a really small drop in a great big bucket,” The Leaf-Chronicle reported.
Pitts released the statement in response to a lawsuit filed in federal court in Nashville on Friday by Tennessee Riverkeeper. Riverkeeper said in the lawsuit that the city is violating its discharge permit by allowing raw sewage to overflow into the river, with 412 violations in the last five years.
The suit also stated that at least 17 of those violations should have triggered a moratorium on new sewer connections.
In response, Pitts said the city has spent $130 million over the past nine years on sewer plant upgrades.