Spring Hill, Tennessee, is going to send part of its sewage to Columbia. The Spring Hill Board of Mayor and Aldermen voted unanimously on Oct. 19 to pass Resolution 26-302 and move ahead with an interlocal wastewater agreement with the City of Columbia, the city announced. Columbia's City Council approved its side of the deal on October 8, 2026.
It is the biggest step yet toward new sewer capacity in a city where growth has been stuck. The state placed a moratorium on new sewage connections in Spring Hill in August 2025, WSMV reported, after the city's treatment plant could no longer keep up.
What gets built
The plan calls for a 12-inch sewer main from the Spring Hill Reclamation Plant on Mahlon Moore Road to Columbia's system on the north side of Columbia. The line would run along Mahlon Moore Road and then follow a TVA easement for several miles.
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The city puts the cost at about $12 million:
- $9 million for the pipeline connecting the two systems
- $3 million for upgrades to Columbia's Carter's Creek Pike Pump Station
Spring Hill pays for all of it and will maintain the line from its plant to the connection point, according to Columbia's announcement. Once it is running, the main will carry a minimum of 500,000 gallons of wastewater per day and up to 1.5 million gallons per day.
Not right away
The new line depends on Columbia finishing its own work first. Service begins only after Columbia's new wastewater treatment plant and the pump station improvements are complete. Columbia's plant is under construction, with completion expected in 2027, and it will raise Columbia's treatment capacity to 17 million gallons per day.
Spring Hill will also pay Columbia a usage rate. Columbia projects that Spring Hill will pay between $21 million and $62 million over 10 years, depending on volume.
"Spring Hill had a need. Columbia answered the call. Both cities will benefit," Columbia Mayor Chaz Molder said in the city's release. Spring Hill Mayor Matt Fitterer called it "regional cooperation delivering real value for Spring Hill residents."
Where the moratorium stands
Neither city's announcement said how much of the new capacity will go to new homes and businesses, or when the moratorium could ease. Since January, new sewer capacity in Spring Hill has been handed out under Ordinance 25-29, the moratorium framework aldermen passed on January 5, 2026. It set capacity allocations and lifted the earlier suspension of development applications that fit the framework. Projects that receive an allocation have to install flow meters.
When he signed off on that framework, Fitterer said the board was committed to more capacity "through public delivery of decentralized systems, interlocal agreements, or both." The Columbia deal is the interlocal piece.
More water storage, too
On the water side, the city brought its new Southside Water Tank online this month. The 2-million-gallon tank sits just south of the Stonegate Subdivision and brings the city's total water storage to 12 million gallons.
Sources
- Spring Hill, Columbia Reach Agreement on Interlocal Wastewater Plan, City of Spring Hill
- City of Columbia Approves Interlocal Wastewater Agreement with City of Spring Hill, City of Columbia
- Spring Hill leaders greenlight $12 million wastewater system upgrade, WSMV
- BOMA Unanimously Approves Sewer Moratorium Framework, City of Spring Hill
- Southside Water Tank Construction Complete, City of Spring Hill
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