Department of Environment & Conservation
Robert Martineau, Commissioner

The Solid Waste Management Act of 1991 T.C.A. 68-211-832 was amended in 2007 to create a grant program for investigation and corrective action at Class I landfills causing contamination of ground water at local government owned, unlined landfills. Applicants will be reimbursed for not more than 50% of the total eligible project costs for eligible corrective action up to the availability of funds for this grant program. 

Funds may be used for costs to correct conditions relative to ground water contamination of private water supplies. Eligible corrective costs include, but are not limited to, providing an alternate source of drinking water to affected residents; construction of waterlines to allow individual residents to tap into a county, municipal or utility district system after such system is made available; or providing temporary individualized water filtration systems in affected homes.

Eligibility

Counties or Municipalities are eligible for this grant offering, if: they operated a Class I landfill permitted by the Department that is now closed; and, the closed landfill  does not have a composite liner system; and, the Department determines that the landfill is causing harm to health or the environment through contamination of ground water.  

Minimum Requirements

All projects must have been determined by the Division of Solid Waste Management, Environmental Field Office and Central Office to be contaminating ground water based on ground water monitoring surveys.  All projects must participate in a pre-project meeting to discuss the specifics of the proposed corrective action project and eligibility of estimated costs.

This year’s grant offering will be giving priority to eligible landfills which are known to have impacted private water supply wells

For additional information concerning this program, please contact:

Loretta Harrington, Grant Program Manager
Department of Environment and Conservation
Division of Solid Waste Management
401 Church Street, 5th Floor
Nashville, Tennessee 37243-1535
loretta.harrington@tn.gov
Telephone: 615-532-0086
Fax: 615-532-0348