City of Clifton Awards Bid for New Water Treatment Plant

The Clifton City Commission met on Monday, September 22, 2025, and voted 4-1 to award the bid for the engineering and construction of a new water plant to Bowen Engineering Corporation.

The City of Clifton began discussion several years ago about the need for a new water plant. The current water plant is undeniably outdated and has almost completely lost function several times in recent years. Problems of the magnitude experienced could easily result in complete loss of water for Clifton city customers.

In addition, each time there is an actionable violation of the requirements for safe water, the city could be charged thousands of dollars in fines payable to the state, depending on how bad the state considers the violation to be.

In an April 2025 meeting of the Tennessee Local Development Authority (TLDA), significant discussions centered around a substantial loan request from the City of Clifton aimed at enhancing its drinking water infrastructure. The city asked for a total loan of $15,900,000.

Later that month, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) Commissioner David Salyers announced a $15,903,809 loan for the City of Clifton to improve water infrastructure. The City of Clifton loan is coming from the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Loan Program, and will address the construction of a new drinking water treatment plant. The loan has a 20-year term at 1.32 percent interest. As a disadvantaged community, Clifton is receiving $4.999 million in standard loan forgiveness.

It has also been determined that there are high amounts of PFAS (known as “forever chemicals”) in Clifton’s source water, the Tennessee River. Therefore, the city took additional protective measures, securing $5.188 million in additional loan forgiveness for technology it will use to address and remove PFAS from treated drinking water.

The low bid submitted by Bowen Engineering Corporation for the engineering and construction of a new water treatment plant came in at $25,800,000, which is $5,021,200 more than the city originally allotted for construction of a new plant. After state money was awarded in the amount of $15,903,809, the city was already looking at having to secure additional funding of $4,874,991 just to meet the originally anticipated cost. With the $25,800.000 bid being awarded, that means the city will instead need to secure $9,896,191 in additional funding to be able to build the new plant.

“We are requesting additional State Revolving Fund loan funding and/or additional emerging contaminant funding to get the project done,” said Clifton City Manager Kristeen Duren when asked about the bid awarded to Brown Engineering Corporation.

The vote to award the bid passed 4-1 with Mayor Mark Staggs, Vice Mayor Tammy Prince, Commissioner Jeff Letson, and Commissioner Michael Francis voting yes. Commissioner Dwight Thompson voted no.