An engineering report suggesting the expenditure of $16,840 for improvements at the county jail and courthouse will be submitted Monday to county court.

The money would cover cost of renovating the jail plumbing system and installation of a packaged sewerage treatment plant to serve both the jail and courthouse.

Existing inadequate conditions in the present systems, as well as recommendations for their correction, were listed in the report prepared by the Kingsport firm of Loest and Stanley, consulting engineers.

The survey was made at the request of the five-man jail committee, instructed by the court at its January meeting to study the sewerage and plumbing situation in the jail and courthouse.

The jail committee is composed of:

County Judge Hal Carr, Atty. Gen. John Wooten, County Purchasing Agent Carl Chase and Magistrates C. J. Long and W.A. Rogers

Read In April

The report prepared by the engineering firm was read at the April term of court, but the magistrates voted then to wait until the July term to take further action.

Whether the court will vote to accept the report and vote money needed is another question at this time.

Since the April session, there has been talk that a sewerage system to include this unincorporated county seat should be included in any plans for the jail and courthouse.

Such an expanded system would cost more money than that noted in the engineering report, but magistrates, looking ahead to Blountville expansion, believe it would be worth it.

“Any community with an adequate sewerage system is certain to grow,” one important county official said.

Septic tank systems now serving the courthouse and jail are inadequate for the needs, one official commented.

Whenever a pump used to send sewerage liquids from a tank near the jail to a field line across Muddy Creek is overloaded, an overflow pipe discharges liquids into the creek.

Lists Problems

The engineering report listed the following existing problems:

“(1) The piping is so installed that when water closets in the jail areas are flushed, the sewerage crosses the plumbing line into the water closet directly on the other side of the chase.

“(2) The present sewerage disposal system consists of a series of septic tanks and drain fields. This disposal system has saturated the ground and is now no longer able to dispose of the waste material produced in the jail and courthouse.

“(3) Water pressures are sufficiently high that normal operation of the plumbing fixtures is impossible. This pressure situation also causes excessive leaking in faucet washers, etc., and has in the past been partially responsible for piping breaks under the building slabs.”

The report-makes the following recommendations:

“(1) The plumbing piping in the chases behind the water closets in the jail areas should be removed and a Monalithic drainage system installed in its place.

“This system is so designed that water closets can be located back-to-back without danger of the matter being flushed down the water closet, backing up or transferring into the other units. Closets, along with such piping changes as would be necessary for the proper installation of the system.”

Repiping of all back-to-back water closets in the jail area would cost some $4,840, the report said.

The report continues:

“(2) The sewerage treatment septic tanks and drain fields are not adequate nor can they be made so with the present property available to the county.

‘Packaged Plant

It is the recommendation of this report that packaged sewerage treatment plant be installed in the place of the existing system. We recommend that all sanitary systems in the courthouse and jail be connected to this plant.

“The plant should be located in the area of the present drain field adjacent to the creek to he rear of the courthouse itself. All installations should meet the requirements of the local and State Board of Health.”

Estimated cost of the addition of this plant, including all necessary reconnections from the buildings, is some $12,000, the report said.

The report noted the existence of a pressure reducing valve in the jail system and said this valve does not appear to be adjusted properly. The valve does not connect to plumbing fixtures in the courthouse.