NASHVILLE — The tension between protecting natural resources and sourcing enough water to fuel Middle Tennessee’s growth is once again coming to the statehouse.
Members of the Tennessee General Assembly filed a handful of bills as of Tuesday concerning the Duck River, a scenic river known worldwide for supporting a vast array of freshwater species, including several federally endangered and threatened species. The river also serves as the sole water source for roughly 250,000 people. Environmental groups have warned for years that drawing more and more water from the river is unsustainable.
One bill seeks to prohibit the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, which regulates water withdrawals from rivers, from stopping any utility that provides drinking water from making withdrawals, regardless of drought conditions. A proposed House Joint Resolution would express support for reconstructing the Columbia Dam, a project that was halted in the 1980s and dismantled in the 1990s…