Sparta officials are looking for a budget-friendly plan to dispose of the silt generated by the city’s water plant.
Public Works Director Dillard Quick said they used to take the silt to the local landfill, but the silt has been building up in two large storage basins since the landfill closed in August, 2022. Quick said the most realistic solution would be to get the landfill open again so they can continue to use a contractor that provides the equipment needed to prepare the silt and transport it to the landfill.
“Between now and probably next spring we’re going to have to really think about what we’re going to do,” Quick said. “We’re going to be spending a lot of money if the landfill doesn’t get back, you know, open back up. So hopefully, you know, it’ll open back up so we can take our sludge to the landfill.”
Quick said the city is working with an engineering firm to design a long-term solution that is feasible for the city. He said purchasing the equipment necessary to get rid of the silt themselves would cost the city between $600,000 and $750,000.
“As of right now, we don’t have a solution,” Quick said. “Hopefully in the next several months to go we’ll have some avenue of, you know, what we’re going to do with it.”
Quick said the city will have to purchase or rent a truck to spread the silt if the landfill does not open in time.
“It’s the same as a manure spreader on a truck,” Quick said. “You just take it to a field that’s of course, you know, approved by TDEC that would have to be spread, and then spread it out on the field. You can pile it, you can store it, but at some point you still have to spread the dirt, or silt as you would say.”
Quick said the silt has not been an issue in the past because each storage basin takes between a year and a year and a half to fill, giving them plenty of time to coordinate its disposal to the local landfill.
Quick said the sludge generated by the sewer plant is currently taken to Red Boiling Springs for disposal.
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