From the Division of Water Resources Central Office:
On September 27th, 2024, Governor Lee signed Executive Order 105 formally declaring a state of emergency due to the severe weather and flooding caused by the remnants of Hurricane Helene. Some residences and businesses were destroyed and more will be demolished because of the severe damage. Reconstruction may occur at some of these locations over the next few months.
Any person that has a SSDS that was damaged by the storm and needs SSDS services as a result, may request a fee waiver by email. In addition, any person required by their local building authority to provide an inspection letter to rebuild or needs a Certificate of Verification to restore electric service may also request a fee waiver by email.
The applicant shall email their request and include the site address, county, and briefly document the nature of the damage to their SSDS or establishment and the resulting need for SSDS services. In the event the applicant does not have email access the request can be taken by phone by the EFO staff and emailed to Steve.R.Owens@tn.gov. If they qualify, an application for service will be created in the ESRI system. The local EFO SSDS program staff shall upload a copy of the variance request, the Central Office response, and a copy of his memo to the issued permit, inspection letter or COV.
SSDS applications for new construction or modifications not associated with storm damage to an SSDS will not qualify for a variance. Requests to increase the number of bedrooms an existing SSDS was originally permitted for will not qualify for a variance.
All variance requests shall be emailed to Steve.R.Owens@tn.gov.
Any questions regarding interpretation of this memo or whether a fee waiver is appropriate for a given application should be directed to Steve Owens (901) 426-4373 or Steve.R.Owens@tn.gov with the Land Based Unit, DWR Central Office.