HAMBLEN COUNTY, Tenn. — A Hamblen County utility company said it can solve the problems people on English Mountain in Sevier County are having with reliably getting water to their homes.
10News spoke with Patricia Rogers in 2017 about the reliability problems. She said since then, nothing has changed.
"You never know from one day to the next if you're going to have water or not," said Rogers.
Ben Harris, the General Manager of Witt Utility, said his company is bringing water to people in the Chestnut Hill community of Jefferson County. He said that area is close to the English Mountain region, and he could easily run pipes up the mountain.
"We would have to build two pump stations to get it up the mountain," Harris said.
Harris offered to build all of the infrastructure and sell water to the East Sevier County Utility District for $12 per 1,000 gallons of water. ESCUD would then sell the water to its customers. Right now, ESCUD charges about $18 per 1,000 gallons of water.
"People deserve drinking water," said Harris. "And that's what we're here to do."
Witt Utility's Chestnut Hill project is one of the largest utility projects in the state, according to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation.
Harris said the utility will start digging under Douglas Lake in the fall and will begin running pipe through there. He said once they start running pipes under Douglas Lake, Witt Utility can bring reliable drinking water to the people of English Mountain within 16 months.
Neighbors on English Mountain said ESCUD's infrastructure is old and relies on wells. Harris said Witt Utility is a surface water plant, which gives them more control over the water they give to customers.
"Wells can be unreliable," Harris said.
According to TDEC records, the Witt Utility District has been fined once for not performing proper water quality tests.