| Sources |
- [S74] Atchley Funeral Home Records, Volume IV, 1987-1999, Larry D. Fox, (Smoky Mountain Historical Society), 27 Mar 1995.
Amos Marshall Eslinger obituary
- [S73] Rawlings Funeral Home, Book 2, 15 Oct 1980.
Tipton Slinger obituary
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 5 Apr 2011.
Gray sky paints Gatlinburg mood
The first units on the scene and plant employees begin a basic search. The white truck in the far right was in the plant area and was swept out across the road by the force of the wall of sewage water. (Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press)
By DEREK HODGES
GATLINBURG — Searchers in everything from fire trucks to personal sedans cruised slowly along the Spur on Tuesday morning as they surveyed the raging, brown Little Pigeon River, while emergency crews at the Gatlinburg Wastewater Plant donned hazard suits to search for two missing workers.
Persistent clouds and a couple of brief rain showers added to the gray mood of the day. More than 100 folks scoured the facility and the rain-swollen river for any sign of the men. Vehicles bearing the insignia of agencies from the Tennessee Highway Patrol to the Knoxville Fire Department chaplain’s unit filled the parking lot at the Gatlinburg Welcome Center, along with mobile command units and television satellite trucks.
It’s a situation the likes of which the crews working the scene train for, but one they certainly hope never to be in.
The first sign of something wrong for most motorists was a collection of Pigeon Forge Fire Department trucks parked near the bridge at the south end of that city and near the start of the Spur. A line was strung across the river, and firefighters were prepared to conduct a swiftwater rescue, just in case one of the missing men had been washed into and down the stream.
Dozens of folks, some staying at a nearby campground as well as passersby, gathered to watch the effort, which was called off by early afternoon.
Meanwhile, trucks and cars cruised slowly along the banks of the river all the way down to the wastewater plant, their drivers watching attentively out rolled-down windows for anything — a waving hand, a dash of color from clothing in the churning brown torrent. Like their cohorts at the city limits, they were gone around lunchtime, going back to regular efforts or joining their comrades at the plant itself.
There, street cleaning trucks passed by slowly spraying clean water onto the road, where a sewer manhole had gushed untold thousands of gallons of wastewater after getting backed up when the plant shut down. During the few times the trucks moved through, traffic on the Spur slowed even further, allowing time for passengers to get a few shots of the catastrophe on cell phones and digital cameras.
The subject of their curiosity showed obvious signs of the catastrophe that had befallen it. A huge steel-reinforced concrete wall 40 feet tall now lay flat on the ground, joined there by the remains of a building that sat above the tank that was the site of the failure. The force of a wall of more than a million gallons of raw sewage spilling across the area was evident, which multi-ton chunks of concrete and even a pickup truck scattered across the area in front of the tank like a child’s toys.
The water had caused damage and flattened the grass all the way down Banner Road — which runs between the plant and the Spur — on its way to a culvert there that gave it access to the Little Pigeon River.
In a part of the Welcome Center parking lot where the searchers were staging, there was a steady stream of folks either coming out of the remains of the wastewater plant or heading into it.
Some huddled under tents in protective clothing, well-aware the spill offered the potential for exposure to life-threatening bacteria. Others wore the brightly colored wet suits of water rescue teams, with part of their responsibilities apparently venturing into one of the holding tanks at the plant where one of the men was rumored to have been working before the collapse.
As the day wore on, the obviously determined crews showed no signs of slackening their efforts. Folks looking to help, some recruited by Gatlinburg city staffers, brought by food and drinks, offering everything from sandwich-makings to chicken teriyaki with rice. They were meals eaten quickly by the hopeful rescuers in between shifts at the plant site.
By early afternoon, heavy machinery had arrived from local contractors, with loaders, dump trucks and a piece of equipment used in demolition to break up concrete walls called in to assist the effort. The noise of their heavy lifting filled the air throughout the afternoon, mingling there with the strong odor created by a million-gallon wastewater dump.
dhodges@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 15 Apr 2011.
Faulty construction? Wastewater plant investigation continues
Veolia Water North America workers set up a mobile processor that can handle up to four million gallons of waste a day as a back-up to handle possible high levels with expected rain this weekend. (Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press)
By JEFF FARRELL
GATLINBURG — An engineer from the company hired by Gatlinburg to investigate the reason the wall of a storage basin collapsed at the wastewater treatment plant said it appeared the basin was not built according to the original design for the project.
Hal Deatherage of Construction Engineering Consultants said, “The construction is not in accordance with what the design drawings indicate.”
Deatherage is not elaborating. Gatlinburg Director of Tourism Dave Perella said he is fielding questions about the incident for the city and for Construction Engineering, and that they are not planning to release further information until after the investigation is completed.
While Gatlinburg officials hired Construction Engineering Consultants to perform an independent investigation into the causes of the incident, the state Occupational Safety and Health Administration is investigating the April 5 incident because it involved fatalities of employees.
John Eslinger, the lead operator of the plant, and Dan Storey, whose job title was operator 1, died when the concrete wall of a so-called equalization basin collapsed while they were standing nearby that morning. The equalization basin stored excess wastewater for the plant when the volume coming in exceeded what could be processed at one time.
A Veolia spokesperson acknowledged this week that the two men were in the process of working on a valve at the time of the incident.
“Mr. Eslinger and Mr. Storey were implementing the facility’s high flow plan, making adjustments to the effluent control valve for the equalization basin, which is a standard operating procedure in a high-flow rain event,” Scott Edwards said. “This is done to ensure environmental compliance.”
Officials with Great Smoky Mountains National Park said they recorded about three inches of rain over eight hours from the evening of April 4 to the morning of April 5.
Edwards said Veolia hadn’t recorded any malfunctions at the plant in the time leading up to the collapse; city officials said they weren’t aware of any either.
Perella said the city does not want to speculate, or fuel speculation, about what could have caused the incident until the investigation is complete. Because of that, the city is not releasing additional information on early findings by Construction Engineering Consultants.
“Our priority right now is to get a complete report on what happened and we’ll release it at that time,” he said.
Even as investigators comb through the rubble looking to find what caused the foot-thick, steel-reinforced concrete wall to collapse, Veolia employees are working to restore full operations at the plant. Officials have said it was treating waste at a level consistent with “secondary treatment” facilities.
Veolia is in the process of adding a portable treatment device that could help with treatment or make up for the absence of the storage tank during periods when the plant receives heavy volumes of wastewater.
jfarrell@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 9 Apr 2011.
John David Eslinger, age 53, of Sevierville, passed away Tuesday, April 5, 2011.
Survivors: wife, Brenda Eslinger; sons, Daniel Eslinger and wife Cindy, Thomas Eslinger; grandchildren, Lance and Trinity Eslinger; mother of the grandchildren, Brittney Ray; brother, Amos Dot Eslinger.
The family will receive friends from 2-4 p.m. Sunday with a funeral service to follow at 4 p.m. in the Chapel of Atchley Funeral Home. Louise Monday will officiate.
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 9 Apr 2011.
Gatlinburg victim ‘a super, super guy’
by DEREK HODGES
Friday morning plant operations appear up and running, if smell is any indication, as men in Blalock vests look over the damaged wall area.
PIGEON FORGE — If choosing a dream team for municipal operations were something people did, Bill Bradley believes John Eslinger would be a top pick when it comes to running wastewater operations.
Bradley, who served as director at the Gatlinburg Wastewater Plant from 1994 until about eight years ago, says no one who could have run a tighter ship than Eslinger, who died in the catastrophe at the facility Tuesday morning. He recalls how one of Eslinger’s early jobs after coming to Gatlinburg was helping to address problems with the tank that failed this week, killing the man who took his post and another employee, Don Storey.
Bradley had been working at a plant in Hawaii when he was given the chance by the company he worked, Professional Services Group, for to “return home” to manage the Gatlinburg plant, which was then about 15 years old. Eslinger followed soon after from his job at the Pigeon Forge plant.
“He said, ‘If Bill’s coming back, I want to go work with him,’” Bradley recalls. “I was glad to have him with me. He was just a super, super guy.”
Within just a few years of both their starts in Gatlinburg, the city’s plant, which was run by that time by S&T Environmental, went through some upgrades that included adding an equalization basin that would allow it to better handle peak flows. It would essentially hold up to 1 million gallons of the incoming sewage in storage until the system could process it.
That new structure got its first test in early 1997, when a heavy rainfall inundated the plant and forced operators to turn to the new capacity. Bradley went out to see how it was holding up and immediately noticed a problem.
“The first time we filled it up, I walked up on it and the end wall was bowing out,” Bradley says of the structure’s north face, which was perpendicular to the wall that failed. “I said, ‘John, let’s get this thing (drawn) down because the end’s about to blow out of it.’”
The men were able to release the pressure and the vessel was decommissioned long enough to allow for a fix. That involved installing a concrete support, a buttress, to hold up the middle part of the wall, Bradley says.
Despite that early worry, Bradley says he never had any other concerns about the basin until he left the Gatlinburg job to take a position with the Pigeon Forge Street Department.
“The rest of the structure looked sound,” Bradley says. “There were no questions about the rest of the structure.”
The tank was built with a poured concrete sidewalk around the top of it, a design element Bradley explains was meant to act as “a giant rubber band,” holding the walls of the building together.
Bradley was surprised Tuesday morning when he heard a wall at the plant had collapsed, assuming at first it was the one that had the initial problem.
“As soon as I got word that happened, I got up there as soon as I could,” he says. “When I saw what had happened, it totally blew my mind.
However, in thinking about the situation, he says it’s easy to see how the crisis developed.
“Looking at that tank and the front wall, it’s totally exposed,” he says. “On the back and the sides you’ve at least got the earth to kind of help hold it up. The only thing supporting the front wall is the other walls.”
When the foot-thick, steel-reinforced concrete came crashing down, Bradley knows the city and Veolia Water NA lost a couple good men.
While Bradley didn’t know Storey well, he remained friends with Eslinger through the years since he left the Gatlinburg plant. He remembers a man who worked as hard and as well as any he’s ever met.
“John was definitely dedicated to his work,” he says. “As far as a plant operator is concerned, I’d put him up against anybody. He knew that plant inside and out. He knew exactly what that plant needed.”
dhodges@themountainpress.com
© themountainpress.com 2011
Gatlinburg victim ‘a super, super guy’
by DEREK HODGES
04.09.11 - 12:01 am
Friday morning plant operations appear up and running, if smell is any indication, as men in Blalock vests look over the damaged wall area.
PIGEON FORGE — If choosing a dream team for municipal operations were something people did, Bill Bradley believes John Eslinger would be a top pick when it comes to running wastewater operations.
Bradley, who served as director at the Gatlinburg Wastewater Plant from 1994 until about eight years ago, says no one who could have run a tighter ship than Eslinger, who died in the catastrophe at the facility Tuesday morning. He recalls how one of Eslinger’s early jobs after coming to Gatlinburg was helping to address problems with the tank that failed this week, killing the man who took his post and another employee, Don Storey.
Bradley had been working at a plant in Hawaii when he was given the chance by the company he worked, Professional Services Group, for to “return home” to manage the Gatlinburg plant, which was then about 15 years old. Eslinger followed soon after from his job at the Pigeon Forge plant.
“He said, ‘If Bill’s coming back, I want to go work with him,’” Bradley recalls. “I was glad to have him with me. He was just a super, super guy.”
Within just a few years of both their starts in Gatlinburg, the city’s plant, which was run by that time by S&T Environmental, went through some upgrades that included adding an equalization basin that would allow it to better handle peak flows. It would essentially hold up to 1 million gallons of the incoming sewage in storage until the system could process it.
That new structure got its first test in early 1997, when a heavy rainfall inundated the plant and forced operators to turn to the new capacity. Bradley went out to see how it was holding up and immediately noticed a problem.
“The first time we filled it up, I walked up on it and the end wall was bowing out,” Bradley says of the structure’s north face, which was perpendicular to the wall that failed. “I said, ‘John, let’s get this thing (drawn) down because the end’s about to blow out of it.’”
The men were able to release the pressure and the vessel was decommissioned long enough to allow for a fix. That involved installing a concrete support, a buttress, to hold up the middle part of the wall, Bradley says.
Despite that early worry, Bradley says he never had any other concerns about the basin until he left the Gatlinburg job to take a position with the Pigeon Forge Street Department.
“The rest of the structure looked sound,” Bradley says. “There were no questions about the rest of the structure.”
The tank was built with a poured concrete sidewalk around the top of it, a design element Bradley explains was meant to act as “a giant rubber band,” holding the walls of the building together.
Bradley was surprised Tuesday morning when he heard a wall at the plant had collapsed, assuming at first it was the one that had the initial problem.
“As soon as I got word that happened, I got up there as soon as I could,” he says. “When I saw what had happened, it totally blew my mind.
However, in thinking about the situation, he says it’s easy to see how the crisis developed.
“Looking at that tank and the front wall, it’s totally exposed,” he says. “On the back and the sides you’ve at least got the earth to kind of help hold it up. The only thing supporting the front wall is the other walls.”
When the foot-thick, steel-reinforced concrete came crashing down, Bradley knows the city and Veolia Water NA lost a couple good men.
While Bradley didn’t know Storey well, he remained friends with Eslinger through the years since he left the Gatlinburg plant. He remembers a man who worked as hard and as well as any he’s ever met.
“John was definitely dedicated to his work,” he says. “As far as a plant operator is concerned, I’d put him up against anybody. He knew that plant inside and out. He knew exactly what that plant needed.”
dhodges@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 5 Apr 2011.
7:50 p.m. update: Inspectors at wastewater plant looking for answers
The front walls of the million gallon sewage tank completely collapsed. Heavy equipment is used to break up the concrete wall, looking for the two missing men. (Photos by Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press) Workers dig by hand at one point, soon before the announcement came of the recovery of the two missing men. A crew of searchers are decontaminated after looking in the area below the plant.
By JEFF FARRELL
SEVIERVILLE —Inspectors from the state Department of Environment and Conservation, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and others were at the Gatlinburg Wastewater Treatment Plant Wednesday, trying to determine what caused one wall of a storage tank to collapse Tuesday morning and how to get the plant operational.
The collapse killed two employees at the plant. The bodies of John Eslinger, 53, and of Don Storey, 44, were pulled from the rubble Tuesday evening. Now officials are looking into the cause of the incident, and into the best way to proceed.
Wastewater is currently being pumped directly into the west prong of the Little Pigeon River at Herbert Holt Park in Gatlinburg after being treated with chlorine. It had initially been reported that wastewater was still being dumped into the river Tuesday, but Gatlinburg utility manager Dale Phelps said they began using chlorine to help disinfect the waste late Tuesday night. “We set up a chlorination process (Tuesday) night at approximately 10 p.m. at the recommendation of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) at the bypass location at the main lift station at the north end of town,” he said. “This consists of adding liquid bleach as a disinfectant to the sewer discharge.”
Phelps said they had initially been unable to find a company Tuesday that could send the chemicals they needed right away, but they found one that could get it delivered Tuesday night and started treating the water as soon as it arrived. Officials with Veolia Water, the company that oversees the plant for the city, said a bypass is a standard response after a catastrophic event such as the one that occurred Tuesday.
“Bypass operations are necessary to prevent customer sewage backups when a plant is not operating,” said Keavin Nelson, president of Veolia’s east region.
City Manager Cindy Ogle said the city has hired a contractor, Southern Constructors, to aid in re-establishing operations at the plant. It will also hire an independent agency to investigate the cause of the wall collapse, she said.
The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA) will take the lead in investigating the cause of the accident for the state, a spokesperson there said.
“(Inspectors will) come to the site, they’ll take witness statements, they’ll look at ... the logs of accidents that have occurred at the site, they’ll take a lot of pictures and they’ll interview as many employees as they can and obviously survey the site,” Jeff Hentschel said.
The investigations typically take six to eight weeks, he said. They will look into factors that could have caused the wall to collapse, including possible design flaws or weaknesses in the concrete, steel reinforcements or other issues.
“Our investigators and inspectors survey all kinds of industrial sites and are very knowledgeable about how these plants work and stressers that can cause failures,” Hentschel said.
TOSHA had no records of previous accidents or complaints about safety problems at the plant, he said.
TDEC is monitoring the flow of wastewater into the river. The discharge is not expected to impact drinking water, although people are being warned not to come into contact with water from the river.
A TDEC spokesperson noted Gatlinburg draws water from the river, but the intake for the water treatment plant is upstream from the wastewater treatment plant, so it is not affected by the discharge. The next closest intake downstream comes after the river empties into the French Broad River, she said, and that intake is for the Knox Chapman Utility District. The district has been notified of the issue and is monitoring water at the intake.
TDEC employee John West was on site Wednesday and taking part in the investigation. TDEC has been taking samples of water upstream and downstream from the spill to determine the amount of contaminants in the water, and should have data to release as early as today, he said.
Pigeon Forge draws drinking water from Douglas Lake. While Sevierville draws drinking water from the French Broad, its intake is upstream from where the Pigeon River runs into the French Broad so it is also not impacted.
“We have personnel up at the sewage treatment plant,” said Tisha Calabrese- Benton, spokesperson for TDEC. “The first order of business... is to do an overall assessment of damage to the plant and to try to get the electrical systems back in operation ... Then the tanks will need to be emptied and cleared of debris.”
Once the plant is at least partially operational, officials will look into temporary solutions to begin treating wastewater there again. Veolia officials have sent its own experts to Gatlinburg, and company spokesperson Scott Edwards said they were looking into bringing in a mobile treatment operation to use in the meantime.
The National Park Service is working with the state on monitoring the situation because the wastewater is being deposited in a portion of the river that runs through the park. Park officials have placed signs along the Spur reminding people to stay out of the water, park spokesman Bob Miller said.
The incident is also not expected to affect well water, although TDEC is monitoring that issue as well.
“We anticipate this is really a surface water issue,” Calabrese-Benton said.
While drinking water is safe, TDEC has warned that people should avoid contact with the waters of the Little Pigeon River because of the contaminants. City officials have asked water customers to conserve their use of water as much as possible to reduce the amount of wastewater entering the plant.
TDEC cited the plant in 2003 and 2004 for issues including “collection system overflows and bypasses of treatment,” according to state documents. The city reached an agreed order for addressing those issues in 2006.
While Gatlinburg submitted documents required in the agreement, the city has not addressed all of the state’s concerns.
“The primary intent of the order is to eliminate overflows in the collection system,” Calabrese-Benton said. “Gatlinburg does still experience overflows in the collection system, and the city has been talking with TDEC’s engineers about their plans to address those.”
While focus shifted from the search for Eslinger and Storey to investigation the cause of the incident and restoring the plant, Nelson said Veolia has offered assistance to the relatives of the men and their coworkers. “We have extended support to the families and made grief counseling available to them and affected employees,” he said. City and company officials extended condolences to the families of both men Wednesday.
The Gatlinburg Welcome Center adjacent to the treatment plant reopened Wednesday; it was closed Tuesday due to the incident. Ogle stressed the city, one of the nation’s top tourist destinations, is ready to accept visitors.
“Business operations are continuing as normal,” she said.
jfarrell@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 5 Apr 2011.
7:50 p.m. update: Inspectors at wastewater plant looking for answers
The front walls of the million gallon sewage tank completely collapsed. Heavy equipment is used to break up the concrete wall, looking for the two missing men. (Photos by Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press)
Workers dig by hand at one point, soon before the announcement came of the recovery of the two missing men.
A crew of searchers are decontaminated after looking in the area below the plant.
By JEFF FARRELL
Staff Writer
SEVIERVILLE —Inspectors from the state Department of Environment and Conservation, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and others were at the Gatlinburg Wastewater Treatment Plant Wednesday, trying to determine what caused one wall of a storage tank to collapse Tuesday morning and how to get the plant operational.
The collapse killed two employees at the plant. The bodies of John Eslinger, 53, and of Don Storey, 44, were pulled from the rubble Tuesday evening. Now officials are looking into the cause of the incident, and into the best way to proceed.
Wastewater is currently being pumped directly into the west prong of the Little Pigeon River at Herbert Holt Park in Gatlinburg after being treated with chlorine. It had initially been reported that wastewater was still being dumped into the river Tuesday, but Gatlinburg utility manager Dale Phelps said they began using chlorine to help disinfect the waste late Tuesday night. “We set up a chlorination process (Tuesday) night at approximately 10 p.m. at the recommendation of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) at the bypass location at the main lift station at the north end of town,” he said. “This consists of adding liquid bleach as a disinfectant to the sewer discharge.”
Phelps said they had initially been unable to find a company Tuesday that could send the chemicals they needed right away, but they found one that could get it delivered Tuesday night and started treating the water as soon as it arrived. Officials with Veolia Water, the company that oversees the plant for the city, said a bypass is a standard response after a catastrophic event such as the one that occurred Tuesday.
“Bypass operations are necessary to prevent customer sewage backups when a plant is not operating,” said Keavin Nelson, president of Veolia’s east region.
City Manager Cindy Ogle said the city has hired a contractor, Southern Constructors, to aid in re-establishing operations at the plant. It will also hire an independent agency to investigate the cause of the wall collapse, she said.
The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA) will take the lead in investigating the cause of the accident for the state, a spokesperson there said.
“(Inspectors will) come to the site, they’ll take witness statements, they’ll look at ... the logs of accidents that have occurred at the site, they’ll take a lot of pictures and they’ll interview as many employees as they can and obviously survey the site,” Jeff Hentschel said.
The investigations typically take six to eight weeks, he said. They will look into factors that could have caused the wall to collapse, including possible design flaws or weaknesses in the concrete, steel reinforcements or other issues.
“Our investigators and inspectors survey all kinds of industrial sites and are very knowledgeable about how these plants work and stressers that can cause failures,” Hentschel said.
TOSHA had no records of previous accidents or complaints about safety problems at the plant, he said.
TDEC is monitoring the flow of wastewater into the river. The discharge is not expected to impact drinking water, although people are being warned not to come into contact with water from the river.
A TDEC spokesperson noted Gatlinburg draws water from the river, but the intake for the water treatment plant is upstream from the wastewater treatment plant, so it is not affected by the discharge. The next closest intake downstream comes after the river empties into the French Broad River, she said, and that intake is for the Knox Chapman Utility District. The district has been notified of the issue and is monitoring water at the intake.
TDEC employee John West was on site Wednesday and taking part in the investigation. TDEC has been taking samples of water upstream and downstream from the spill to determine the amount of contaminants in the water, and should have data to release as early as today, he said.
Pigeon Forge draws drinking water from Douglas Lake. While Sevierville draws drinking water from the French Broad, its intake is upstream from where the Pigeon River runs into the French Broad so it is also not impacted.
“We have personnel up at the sewage treatment plant,” said Tisha Calabrese- Benton, spokesperson for TDEC. “The first order of business... is to do an overall assessment of damage to the plant and to try to get the electrical systems back in operation ... Then the tanks will need to be emptied and cleared of debris.”
Once the plant is at least partially operational, officials will look into temporary solutions to begin treating wastewater there again. Veolia officials have sent its own experts to Gatlinburg, and company spokesperson Scott Edwards said they were looking into bringing in a mobile treatment operation to use in the meantime.
The National Park Service is working with the state on monitoring the situation because the wastewater is being deposited in a portion of the river that runs through the park. Park officials have placed signs along the Spur reminding people to stay out of the water, park spokesman Bob Miller said.
The incident is also not expected to affect well water, although TDEC is monitoring that issue as well.
“We anticipate this is really a surface water issue,” Calabrese-Benton said.
While drinking water is safe, TDEC has warned that people should avoid contact with the waters of the Little Pigeon River because of the contaminants. City officials have asked water customers to conserve their use of water as much as possible to reduce the amount of wastewater entering the plant.
TDEC cited the plant in 2003 and 2004 for issues including “collection system overflows and bypasses of treatment,” according to state documents. The city reached an agreed order for addressing those issues in 2006.
While Gatlinburg submitted documents required in the agreement, the city has not addressed all of the state’s concerns.
“The primary intent of the order is to eliminate overflows in the collection system,” Calabrese-Benton said. “Gatlinburg does still experience overflows in the collection system, and the city has been talking with TDEC’s engineers about their plans to address those.”
While focus shifted from the search for Eslinger and Storey to investigation the cause of the incident and restoring the plant, Nelson said Veolia has offered assistance to the relatives of the men and their coworkers. “We have extended support to the families and made grief counseling available to them and affected employees,” he said. City and company officials extended condolences to the families of both men Wednesday.
The Gatlinburg Welcome Center adjacent to the treatment plant reopened Wednesday; it was closed Tuesday due to the incident. Ogle stressed the city, one of the nation’s top tourist destinations, is ready to accept visitors.
“Business operations are continuing as normal,” she said.
jfarrell@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 6 Apr 2011.
UPDATE 10:30 a.m.: Treatment plant operational again, though not fully
Officials from various agencies work to formulate a plan to step forward with clean up and getting the plant running. (Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press)
Signs in Pigeon Forge warn visitors to the riverbank along River Road to the hazards of the current situation in the river.
By JEFF FARRELL
GATLINBURG — The Gatlinburg Wastewater Treatment Plant is running again, though it isn't fully operational, officials said during a news conference Thursday morning.
They caution that since the plant is not fully operational, people should still limit use if they can.
As a result of the latest action, sewage is no longer being bypassed into the river.
The bypass operations were a necessary emergency measure required to prevent customer sewage backups following the collapse of the equalization basin wall, officials said. The bypass was done with full knowledge of the Tennessee Department of Environmental Conservation.
Full treatment is not yet restored and while the plant is still under stress, it is operating normally, officials said.
Veolia Water and city experts will continue to work toward full restoration of wastewater treatment and the investigation into the cause of the collapse.
Rest of story posted last night:
Inspectors from the state Department of Environment and Conservation, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and others were at the Gatlinburg Wastewater Treatment Plant Wednesday, trying to determine what caused one wall of a storage tank to collapse Tuesday morning and how to get the plant operational.
The collapse killed two employees at the plant. The bodies of John Eslinger, 53, and of Don Storey, 44, were pulled from the rubble Tuesday evening. Now officials are looking into the cause of the incident, and into the best way to proceed.
Wastewater is currently being pumped directly into the west prong of the Little Pigeon River at Herbert Holt Park in Gatlinburg after being treated with chlorine. It had initially been reported that wastewater was still being dumped into the river Tuesday, but Gatlinburg utility manager Dale Phelps said they began using chlorine to help disinfect the waste late Tuesday night. “We set up a chlorination process (Tuesday) night at approximately 10 p.m. at the recommendation of the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) at the bypass location at the main lift station at the north end of town,” he said. “This consists of adding liquid bleach as a disinfectant to the sewer discharge.”
Phelps said they had initially been unable to find a company Tuesday that could send the chemicals they needed right away, but they found one that could get it delivered Tuesday night and started treating the water as soon as it arrived. Officials with Veolia Water, the company that oversees the plant for the city, said a bypass is a standard response after a catastrophic event such as the one that occurred Tuesday.
“Bypass operations are necessary to prevent customer sewage backups when a plant is not operating,” said Keavin Nelson, president of Veolia’s east region.
City Manager Cindy Ogle said the city has hired a contractor, Southern Constructors, to aid in re-establishing operations at the plant. It will also hire an independent agency to investigate the cause of the wall collapse, she said.
The Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA) will take the lead in investigating the cause of the accident for the state, a spokesperson there said.
“(Inspectors will) come to the site, they’ll take witness statements, they’ll look at ... the logs of accidents that have occurred at the site, they’ll take a lot of pictures and they’ll interview as many employees as they can and obviously survey the site,” Jeff Hentschel said.
The investigations typically take six to eight weeks, he said. They will look into factors that could have caused the wall to collapse, including possible design flaws or weaknesses in the concrete, steel reinforcements or other issues.
“Our investigators and inspectors survey all kinds of industrial sites and are very knowledgeable about how these plants work and stressers that can cause failures,” Hentschel said.
TOSHA had no records of previous accidents or complaints about safety problems at the plant, he said.
TDEC is monitoring the flow of wastewater into the river. The discharge is not expected to impact drinking water, although people are being warned not to come into contact with water from the river.
A TDEC spokesperson noted Gatlinburg draws water from the river, but the intake for the water treatment plant is upstream from the wastewater treatment plant, so it is not affected by the discharge. The next closest intake downstream comes after the river empties into the French Broad River, she said, and that intake is for the Knox Chapman Utility District. The district has been notified of the issue and is monitoring water at the intake.
TDEC employee John West was on site Wednesday and taking part in the investigation. TDEC has been taking samples of water upstream and downstream from the spill to determine the amount of contaminants in the water, and should have data to release as early as today, he said.
Pigeon Forge draws drinking water from Douglas Lake. While Sevierville draws drinking water from the French Broad, its intake is upstream from where the Pigeon River runs into the French Broad so it is also not impacted.
“We have personnel up at the sewage treatment plant,” said Tisha Calabrese- Benton, spokesperson for TDEC. “The first order of business... is to do an overall assessment of damage to the plant and to try to get the electrical systems back in operation ... Then the tanks will need to be emptied and cleared of debris.”
Once the plant is at least partially operational, officials will look into temporary solutions to begin treating wastewater there again. Veolia officials have sent its own experts to Gatlinburg, and company spokesperson Scott Edwards said they were looking into bringing in a mobile treatment operation to use in the meantime.
The National Park Service is working with the state on monitoring the situation because the wastewater is being deposited in a portion of the river that runs through the park. Park officials have placed signs along the Spur reminding people to stay out of the water, park spokesman Bob Miller said.
The incident is also not expected to affect well water, although TDEC is monitoring that issue as well.
“We anticipate this is really a surface water issue,” Calabrese-Benton said.
While drinking water is safe, TDEC has warned that people should avoid contact with the waters of the Little Pigeon River because of the contaminants. City officials have asked water customers to conserve their use of water as much as possible to reduce the amount of wastewater entering the plant.
TDEC cited the plant in 2003 and 2004 for issues including “collection system overflows and bypasses of treatment,” according to state documents. The city reached an agreed order for addressing those issues in 2006.
While Gatlinburg submitted documents required in the agreement, the city has not addressed all of the state’s concerns.
“The primary intent of the order is to eliminate overflows in the collection system,” Calabrese-Benton said. “Gatlinburg does still experience overflows in the collection system, and the city has been talking with TDEC’s engineers about their plans to address those.”
While focus shifted from the search for Eslinger and Storey to investigation the cause of the incident and restoring the plant, Nelson said Veolia has offered assistance to the relatives of the men and their coworkers. “We have extended support to the families and made grief counseling available to them and affected employees,” he said. City and company officials extended condolences to the families of both men Wednesday.
The Gatlinburg Welcome Center adjacent to the treatment plant reopened Wednesday; it was closed Tuesday due to the incident. Ogle stressed the city, one of the nation’s top tourist destinations, is ready to accept visitors.
“Business operations are continuing as normal,” she said.
jfarrell@themountainpress.com
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 7 Apr 2011.
Damaged tank had issue in 1997
Gatlinburg City Manager Cindy Ogle talks about when the tank was built, it being newer than the plant itself. Gatlinburg utility manager Dale Phelps looks on. (Curt Habraken/The Mountain Press)
By JEFF FARRELL
GATLINBURG — The storage tank where a wall collapsed at the Gatlinburg Wastewater Treatment Plant had a structural issue that surfaced in 1997 — the first time the basin was filled.
While the plant was constructed in 1979, the storage tank was built in 1996. According to a story that ran in The Mountain Press on March 7, 1997, the tank filled for the first time that week after heavy rains. At that point, workers noticed the sides of the tank had bowed out from the pressure.
Engineers from Flynt Engineering eventually drilled holes in the face of the concrete sides and support them with heavy cables set at 45-degree angles, according to then-city commissioner Mike May.
Current Utility Manager Dale Phelps was not in charge of the plant at that time. May said Wednesday that Bill Bradley, who now works for the city of Pigeon Forge, ran the plant in 1997 and alerted city officials to the problem. Phelps said he understood the issue back then affected one wall of the basin, and it was not the same wall that collapsed Tuesday, killing two workers and forcing officials to shut down the plant.
“That bowing out of the wall was detected and corrected before the tank was refilled,” Phelps said. Officials buttressed the wall, Phelps said, putting large concrete structures against it to brace it.
The wall in question is still standing, he said.
The plant was built in 1979, and the storage tank was built 17 years later.
“I won’t say it’s still intact, but it’s still standing,” Phelps said of the wall that was fixed in 1997. The collapse of the wall this week did not include the wall where the buttresses were put in, he said. The buttresses are still visible in pictures of the plant taken after the collapse, he said.
“It appears (to be) unrelated,” he said of the 1997 issue and the collapse on Tuesday.
The city suffered a significant rainfall Monday. Great Smoky Mountains National Park gauges showed almost 3 inches of rain fell in about eight hours. However, Phelps said it would be premature to speculate on any cause as to Tuesday’s collapse.
State investigators were on site Wednesday to begin looking for an explanation for the collapse, and City Manager Cindy Ogle said the city would hire an independent contractor to investigate the catastrophe.
Veolia Water NA, a private company, manages the plant for the city. In 1997, the plant was managed by a company named PFG, according to May, who still resides in Gatlinburg.
Phelps said employees of Veolia inspect the structure of the plant daily, and he also inspects it regularly. Phelps noted he had walked many times along the wall that collapsed Tuesday. Officials have said there were no warning signs before the wall collapsed.
“The structure of the tank is included in a daily walkthrough by Veolia plant personnel it is visibly checked and when I am there, which is on a somewhat regular basis, the plant manager and I walk through the whole facility.”
Those are the only inspections required for the plant. While officials from the Tennessee Department of Conservation inspect the plant regularly, they are looking to determine whether the plant is following regulatory guidelines in treating and releasing wastewater. They don’t inspect structures in the plant, officials said.
While Phelps was not utilities manager in 1997, Ogle was city manager at the time. The Mountain Press attempted to contact Ogle regarding this story, but questions were apparently referred to Phelps, who called to respond to the inquiry.
May said that in 1997, officials believed engineers had resolved any structural issues with the plant.
“They told me everything is OK,” he said. “They’re engineers. If your doctor tells you you’re in remission from cancer, you have faith in your doctor.”
The tank was intended to store wastewater during peak usage times, such as Sunday mornings when tourists are getting ready to leave the city’s hotels. When the flow of wastewater was too great for the plant to treat at once, the wastewater would be stored in the basin and held until it could be treated without overburdening the operation.
“It was a big improvement to the plant,” May said. “I don’t know if there was something about that (repair in 1997), whether it was not fixed right. You can’t help but wonder about it.”
Veolia officials have noted the company has a strong track record for safety. A Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) spokesperson said they had no incident reports or complaints about the plant. Keavin Nelson, president of the company’s east region, said they had no “OSHA recordable injuries in the past three years and only one since 2005” at the Gatlinburg plant.
The company’s national OSHA recordable injury rate is 1.5 times better than the national average, he said, and its lost time incident rate is three times better.
— Editor Stan Voit contributed to this story.
jfarrell@themountainpress.com
- [S23] Atchley Funeral Home, (http://www.atchleyfuneralhome.com/), 5 Apr 2011.
John David Eslinger
February 01, 1958 - April 05, 2011
Birthplace: Sevier County
Resided In: Sevierville Tennessee USA
Visitation: April 10, 2011
Service: April 10, 2011
Cemetery: Elkmont Cemetery
John David Eslinger, age 53, of Sevierville, passed away Tuesday, April 5, 2011.
Survivors:
Wife: Brenda Eslinger
Sons: Daniel Eslinger and wife Cindy, Thomas Eslinger
Grandchildren: Lance and Trinity Eslinger, mother of the grandchildren, Brittney Ray
Brother: Amos Dot Eslinger
The family will receive friends from 2-4 PM Sunday with a funeral service to follow at 4 PM in the Chapel of Atchley Funeral Home, Sevierville. Louise Monday will officiate. Family and friends will meet 1 PM Tuesday in Elkmont Cemetery for graveside service and interment. (www.atchleyfuneralhome.com)
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 17 Jun 2011.
No answers yet in wall collapse
by JEFF FARRELL
GATLINBURG —It will be at least a few more weeks until the Tennessee Occupational Safety and Health Administration (TOSHA) is ready to release its findings on the reasons a wall of a storage basin collapsed at the Gatlinburg wastewater treatment plant, killing two employees.
John Eslinger, the lead operator at the plant, and Don Storey, whose title was operator 1, were working somewhere near the wall April 5 when it suddenly collapsed on top of them. Their bodies were pulled from the rubble later that evening.
Eslinger and Storey worked for Veolia Water North America, the company Gatlinburg hired to oversee the plant. The facility is located beside the Gatlinburg Visitors Center on the Spur.
Once emergency responders recovered their remains, investigators began looking into the cause of the incident. TOSHA is in charge of the official investigation, and the agency’s spokesman said Thursday that they hope to complete their inquiry within three weeks.
The city hired Construction Engineering Consultants of Knoxville to perform an independent investigation into the collapse. The city is not setting a timeline for release of its findings, said Albert Harb, the attorney Gatlinburg officials hired to represent the city in the case. Harb acknowledged the city anticipates lawsuits related to the collapse.
“Because litigation by one or more parties is anticipated, it is imperative that any report, once issued, be complete, accurate and based upon full knowledge of all available facts,” he said in a written statement.
“No report will be issued until such time as the city of Gatlinburg and its counsel are satisfied and those conditions have been met.”
While all that’s going on, repairs to the plant are being delayed because investigators are still reviewing evidence as to what caused the collapse. Veolia officials brought in a mobile treatment unit to supplement the plant during times when it is receiving a high flow of wastewater. Those can include periods of heavy rain and times when the city’s many hotels are at or near full occupancy.
Before the city can begin work on the plant, it will have to submit the plans to Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), spokesperson Meg Lockhart said.
“These plans will be reviewed and approved by TDEC for consistency with design criteria and to ensure the needed level of treatment is attained,” she said.
TDEC also has not decided whether to take any action against the city for the millions of gallons of wastewater that were dumped directly into the Little Pigeon River while the plant was shut down for two days.
The storage tank, called an equalization basin, was used to hold wastewater when the amount coming to the plant at one time exceeded its treatment capacity. Wastewater would remain in the tank until it could be treated. It had a capacity of about 1 million gallons, and was holding about 850,000 gallons when the wall collapsed.
It’s not the first time officials noted a structural issue with the basin. In 1997, when the tank was filled to capacity for the first time, workers noted that one wall bowed out due to the pressure. Engineers from Flynt Engineering eventually drilled holes in the face of the concrete sides and support them with heavy cables set at 45-degree angles. That wall is still standing, city officials said.
Any litigation could involve a number of parties, in addition to the city and Veolia. The plant was built in 1979, but the storage basin was built in 1996. Flynt Engineering designed the basin, and Crowder Construction built it. Flynt Engineering was later purchased by another company; Crowder is still in operation. Those companies could also be involved in any litigation.
Eslinger’s widow has hired Nashville attorney Joe Napiltonia to represent her family and investigate the incident.
jfarrell@themountainpress.com
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