By Juanita Cousins • The Tennessean
May 2, 2010, UPDATED 7:30pm A number of water main breaks and sewage treatment problems are being reported across Middle Tennessee. According to, Tisha Calabrese-Benton, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, water main breaks in the city of Brentwood and Humphreys and Maury counties are threatening fresh water supplies to local residents. In Rutherford County, four sewer lift stations, which help transport waste water to the treatment plan, have been engulfed by flood waters. In Hickman County, the city water has shut down and state emergency management officials are working to deliver generators to restart power. Calabrese-Benton said state officials will also work with local municipalities to deliver drinking water, if necessary. Health officials caution residents to stay away from flood waters and wash hands often. … The U.S. Corps of Engineers also is releasing record amounts of water from Old Hickory Lake into the Cumberland, 150,000 cubic feet per second, exceeding the March 1975 record. “There is no comparison to anything we have ever done before,” said U.S. Army Corps of Engineers hydraulic engineer Hershel Whitworth. “The (Old Hickory Lock and Dam) is in no danger of failing, but releasing too much water would lead to flooding which would knock the dam out of service and limit our ability to regulate short-term flow.” Flooding is expected to continue along the Harpeth River. In Bellevue, the river reached 27.03 feet at 5 a.m. Sunday, well over the last historical crest of 24.38 feet in 1948, according to the National Weather Service. Mill Creek, which runs through Nolensville, Antioch and Woodbine also reached record crests. In Antioch, the creek was measured at 26.1 feet on Saturday night. Its previous crest record was 23.78 feet in 1979. … “The main impact for the river is that many of the combined sewer systems most likely have flooded in areas of Mills Creek, Richland Creek and Harpeth watershed,” said Vena Jones, Cumberland River Compact program director. Cars, garbage cans, construction material, garden tools and anything that was left outside when waters began to rise will be swept into the Cumberland River. Sewage in the river would lead to increasing amounts of dead fish. “It must be difficult for the wildlife and especially the fish. It is crazy for them to have floating debris in their river along with pollutants like silt and whatever is in runoff,” said Jones. … Mike Kassen, an East Nashville resident who has lived in the city 33 years, came by twice Sunday to take photographs. “I’ve seen it go up to one level of steps below the top of Riverside Park,” he said. “Nothing like this.”

Record river levels will continue to rise