State investigating chlorine discharge that killed nearly 300 fish

The South Blount County Utility District discharged about 250,000 gallons of highly chlorinated water into the creek Thursday while disinfecting equipment at its new water treatment plant in the Pumpkin Center community, officials with the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation said.

“It’s not a regular release,” TDEC spokeswoman Tisha Calabrese-Benton said. “There was a chlorine release when they were cleaning out the tanks.”

The discharge into the creek, which empties into Tellico Lake, killed 285 fish that included bass, perch, catfish, shiners, suckers, bluegill, chubs and drums.

Investigators with TDEC are checking the area downstream from the plant for other possible damage, Calabrese-Benton said.

Isom Lail, the utility’s district manager, said the disinfection was a one-time process to get the 8-million-gallon facility started.

“You’ve got to have disinfection of any water tank or water line,” Lail said. “You use a higher dose of chlorine than your standard tap water.”

The utility is conducting an internal probe of the incident and will give its findings to TDEC, he said.

The plant, which cost $13.2 million and will serve about 13,000 households, is scheduled to go online by Aug. 1.