Belle Meade Struggles With Water Pressure - Cindy Carter

Homeowner Nancy Cox says faucets and showers don't always flow like they should in Belle Meade. "I have four children and you can imagine, before school, everybody's trying to take showers and most mornings we turn the water on, our water pressure is almost too difficult to take a shower"

Low water pressure isn't a new problem for this community of about 3-thousand people but it is getting worse. Metro Councilwoman, Emily Evans says there are two reasons for this water slowdown: Old pipes and new houses.

"It has an aging infrastructure which makes it difficult for water to flow through the pipes... so water is moving more slowly. Second of all it has a higher demand for water than ever before."

Much of the infrastructure supporting belle Meade was put into the ground in 1913. Those old cast iron pipes are full of deposits that are literally clogging the underground arteries.

Metro leaders say it'll cost 8-million dollars to fix the problem. Metro Water Services spokesperson, Sonia Harvat says, "Last year, we had very extreme drought and it was a learning experience for Metro Water Services."

Thats why this year, Harvat says, Metro Water services is using a temporary pump to keep the pressure up during peak usage hours. However, it is only temporary.

"Which means, " Evans says, "We'll get to it when we have the money." Evans says cash flow from this project will come only after Mayor Karl Dean approves roughly 550- million dollars for department improvements.

Even then, Evans says, the Belle Meade repairs would need to be given priority over dozens of other water department improvement projects.Belle Meade Struggles With Water Pressure - Cindy Carter