Memphis to end 40-year sewer service to Horn Lake

Memphis will stop treating sewage from Horn Lake, Mississippi, in 2023, ending a 40-year agreement that Memphis officials say no longer serves the city.

For Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland's administration, the decision not to renew the contract was about putting "Memphis first," Public Works Director Robert Knecht said. The expiration will free up about 8 million gallons of daily capacity, or 11 percent of the total current capacity, at the T.E. Maxson Wastewater Treatment Facility.

The city is also spending $170 million to expand the Southwest Memphis plant's capacity in anticipation of future growth.

"That 8 million gallons will go a long way in serving our growth needs," Knecht said.

But the administration's Memphis-first approach leaves Horn Lake and its population of roughly 27,000 with few options, one of which is a treatment plant that could cost "tens of millions of dollars," according to Horn Lake Mayor Allen Latimer.

The other option being explored by the Horn Lake Creek Basin Sewer Interceptor Sewage District, which has the contract to manager sewers for Horn Lake, is to enter an agreement to have the DeSoto County Regional Utility Authority treat its wastewater.

The district currently pays Memphis about $100,000-$120,000 a month, or more than $1.2 million per year.

The district is currently negotiating with Memphis to temporarily extend the contract, Latimer said.

"We're just sitting here, letting them do their negotiations with Memphis," he said.

Memphis and Horn Lake entered the agreement in 1983 as the federal government crackdown down on sewer treatment for wastewater being discharged into the Mississippi, Knecht said. Asked why Memphis would help a city that would become a competitor for economic development projects, Knecht said it was "seen as an environmental issue."

"I think we are looking at the city, and focusing on the city and its main issues and priorities," Knecht said. "We have opportunities to serve our citizens and our responsibilities at the best level we can with our revenues."

He added: "Unfortunately, in Mississippi, we don't get any economic advantage out of that."

Knecht made a similar argument when the city abruptly decided to end sewer services to unincorporated Shelby County, a move that angered some developers and county commissioners. The county is currently studying the possibility of creating its own sewer treatment facility and buying Memphis' sewer infrastructure to create its own system.

"It seems like we are always giving, giving, giving," Knecht said.

Knecht said he expects to renew sewer services contracts with other neighboring cities, like Germantown, that are on the Tennessee side of the state line.

In another Memphis-first move, it will stop accepting a money-losing contract to clean state-owned roadways for the Tennessee Department of Transportation, Knecht said. Memphis was the only city in the state with a contract to do TDOT's work, and the result was that TDOT didn't give Memphis comparable service to other cities like Nashville.

Reach Ryan Poe at poe@commercialappeal.com or on Twitter at @ryanpoe.