A new intake downstream of Columbia places the water supply intake downstream of the wastewater effluent. The Tims Ford Pipeline is an interbasin transfer, which will increase the flows in the Duck River at the expense of flows on the Elk River. An EIS is in progress. But TVA will not build the project. The Rest of the Story Removing the Columbia Dam imposed a Herculean challenge on water planners.
Problems abound in the Duck River Watershed.
The Duck River watershed is a mind-boggling array of geologic, hydrologic, biologic, climatologic, social, political, and economic challenges. Increasing populations of people, decreasing populations of endangered species, growing pollution and treatment problems, failing wells and septic systems, a decade of above average rainfall followed by a summer drought that may be the harbinger of a new cycle, are all pieces of the puzzle. In the early sixties a group of concerned citizens recognized that the economic life of the region was constrained by the availability of water. In 1965 their efforts led to an act of the Tennessee Legislature that created the then Upper Duck River Development Agency for the purpose of promoting economic development including the development of water resources in the Upper Duck River watershed. By the combined efforts of the Agency and the political will of the region s citizens, Congress authorized TVA to build the two-dam Duck River Project.