Tennessee § 7-35-401 - Authority granted — Part definitions.

§ 7-35-401. Authority granted — Part definitions.

Every incorporated city and town in this state is authorized and empowered to own, acquire, construct, extend, equip, operate and maintain within or without the corporate limits of such city or town a waterworks system or a sewerage system, to provide water or sewerage service and to charge for such service. As used in this part, unless the context otherwise requires: “Sewerage system” means all or any part of the following: The collecting system; Intercepting and outflow sewers; Pumping stations; Treatment, purification and disposal plants; and The installation of green infrastructure practices within areas containing collecting systems designed to convey both sanitary sewage and storm water. Green infrastructure practices include, but are not limited to: trees, tree boxes, vegetated roofs, infiltration strips, rain gardens, cisterns, dry wells, permeable pavement, soil amendments, pocket wetlands, and vegetated swales. Green infrastructure practices may be implemented on both public and private property at the discretion of the incorporated city or town; “Waterworks system” means all or any part of the following: Source of supply; Pumping facilities; Purification works; Storage facilities; Distribution system; and All necessary parts and appurtenances for proper operation; and “Works” means the waterworks or sewerage system. The power to own, acquire, construct, extend, equip, operate and maintain water or sewerage service shall not include the power to bid on or construct any project for a private purpose. As used in this subsection (c): “Municipal corporation” means any incorporated city or town in this state and any utility district created pursuant to chapter 82 of this title; “Project for a private purpose” includes, but is not limited to: Any commercial project, commercial subdivision, private residence or residential subdivision that is owned by a nonpublic entity; The construction of individual water or sewerage lines beyond a meter that measures service or consumption, or onto private property, unless such water or sewerage line is owned by, or a utility easement has been obtained by, the municipal corporation; and Any other projects that are not part of the normal operation of a municipal corporation in providing water or sewerage services and which projects are otherwise constructed by private contractors who are subject to the sales tax, the business tax and other tax laws and licensure laws of this state; “Project for a private purpose” does not include the renewal or replacement of any existing water or sewerage lines that are owned by the municipal corporation; and “Project for a private purpose” does not include the renewal or replacement of individual water or sewage lines behind a meter or onto private property when such rehabilitative maintenance or construction is deemed necessary by the municipal corporation because excessive infiltration and inflow from groundwater or rainwater is resulting in sanitary sewer overflows or other serious health or system capacity issues. Municipal corporations are authorized, but not required, to maintain or construct individual lines for this purpose if the property owner consents and agrees to hold the municipal corporation harmless for the work. This subsection (c) shall not apply in any county having a population of not less than two hundred eighty-seven thousand seven hundred (287,700) nor more than two hundred eighty-seven thousand eight hundred (287,800), according to the 1980 federal census or any subsequent federal census. Acts 1933, ch. 68, § 1; C. Supp. 1950, § 3695.1; modified; T.C.A. (orig. ed.), § 6-1408; Acts 1988, ch. 738, §§ 1-3; 2007, ch. 123, §§ 1, 2; 2016, ch. 792, § 1. Compiler's Notes. For table of U.S. decennial populations of Tennessee counties, see Volume 13 and its supplement. Amendments. The 2016 amendment added (1)(E) in the definition of “sewerage system” in (b). Effective Dates. Acts 2016, ch. 792, § 2. April 12, 2016. Cross-References. Extension of service beyond corporate limits, § 7-51-401 . Loans to municipalities from state for waterworks construction, title 68, ch. 221, part 5. Attorney General Opinions. Authority of city utility system to repair privately owned lines, OAG 06-030 (2/13/06), 2006 Tenn. AG LEXIS 30. Domestic nonprofit water cooperative merging with or transferring assets to municipality. OAG 06-176, 2006 Tenn. AG LEXIS 196 (12/19/06), 2006 Tenn. AG LEXIS 196. Provisions of T.C.A. § 7-35-401(c) eliminate the need for a utility easement when the objective is to reduce sanitary sewer overflows on private property. OAG 08-185 (12/12/08), 2008 Tenn. AG LEXIS 230. Provisions of T.C.A. § 7-35-401(c)(2) do not apply to the Hamilton County water and wastewater treatment authority, OAG 08-185 (12/12/08), 2008 Tenn. AG LEXIS 230. The fact that a city imposes a water and sewage rate on customers outside its corporate limits that is twice the rate charged to customers within its corporate limits does not by itself establish that the higher rate is invalid. The rate is presumptively valid, and a party seeking to challenge it bears the heavy burden of proving that the rate is not just and equitable. OAG 14-46, 2014 Tenn. AG LEXIS 49 (4/14/14).