Wastewater

The City of Pikeville Wastewater Treatment Plant is a municipal agency, serving customers within the city limits of Pikeville, Tennessee. The Pikeville Wastewater Department is committed to providing wastewater services to our current and future customers in a professional, efficient and cost-effective manner.

The Wasterwater Department is responsible for the operation and maintenance of the city’s sanitary wastewater system.  “It is our job to maintain a system that ensures safe and reliable operations and minimizes potential hazardous and costly wastewater backups.”

The Wastewater Treatment Plant is owned and operated by the City of Pikeville.  The treatment plant has been serving its community since around the 1960’s.  The Wastewater Treatment Plant has the capacity to treat 254,000 gallons of raw sewage per day.  The wastewater flows through the sanitary sewer mains by force and by gavity.  In addition, there are five (5) Lift Stations which are used to deliver wastewater to the treatment plant.

Currently, 75% of the wastewater discharged to the treatment plant, originates from residences.  Approximately 20% of the wastewater volume is received from public schools and the remaining 5% is commercial use.

Sanitary Sewer System

After water is used in homes and businesses, it is delivered as wastewater to the sanitary sewer system.  There are approximately 20 miles of sanitary sewer mains located underground throughout the City of Pikeville.  The sanitary sewer and storm-water collection systems are separate, and should not be confused.  The County and the State of Tennessee maintains the storm-water, and it not sent to the Pikeville Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The Wastewater Treatment Plant consists of a mechanical bar screen, Parshall flume, aerated grit chamber, two (2) primary settling clarifiers, and four (4) sludge holding tanks. Bio-solides are land applied.

The Wastewater Treatment Plant is designed to remove debris, grit, nutrients (nitrogen), solids, and waterborne pathogens from wastewater to produce treated reuse-water that is then released into percolation trenches.  Our current design capacity can treat 454,000 gallons of wastewater each day. As the needs of the City of Pikeville increase due to population and business growth, we are continuously on the lookout for new, effective, and cost-efficient ways to meet the demands of the community.

Regulating the Wastewater Treatment Plant

The State of Tennessee’s Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the United States Government’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are responsible for regulating the various aspects of the operations at the Pikeville Wastewater Treatment Plant. They have set limitation requirements which must be met before the Wastewater Treatment Plant can release the final effluent into the environment.