View from the River

by Dorene Bolze, HRWA Executive Director

It is always better to be proactive than reactive! With a new EPA grant for $200,000, HRWA has been given a great opportunity to work with Franklin and Williamson County to be proactive in developing efforts that will reduce the pollutants going into the Harpeth and over time improve water quality. Much of the work will focus on local planning, development site design, and zoning ordinances that help meet water quality targets such as natural streamside buffers. We will also provide priorities across the entire Harpeth that will be valuable to Williamson County’s land use plan update effort and throughout the watershed.

However, we have also had to react to the changing dynamics of growth with the increased use of alternative sewage treatment systems that enable dense development almost anywhere. Like the City of Franklin, these various systems apply the effluent onto land, an approach which has the advantages of reducing pollutants into rivers and providing irrigation, as long as the systems are designed and managed properly.

With the recent proposal of a million gallon-a-day sewage treatment system for the town of Thompson’s Station, HRWA has been working with town leaders, developers, EPA, TDEC, and national experts on how such systems need to be designed if they occur in a river system with pollutant load reduction requirements—like the Harpeth. Even if these systems are designed to not be sources of surface water pollutants, they enable growth that will generate increased stormwater runoff and pollution unless there are standards for stormwater and open space to minimize this. HRWA has been focusing on this significant change to the “rules of the game” and providing scientific and technical expertise—with your member dollars making it possible.

Your support enables us to “react” to unpredicted issues and take advantage of new opportunities. I hope you will consider supporting our annual “May Day for the River” Annual Fund Campaign so we can expand our ability to be both reactive and proactive in pursuing our mission to protect the Harpeth and to shape state policies based on what we learn.

From Voices for the Harpeth, Spring 2005