Clarksville, TN – After extensive study, the City of Clarksville – working in close association with professionals representing Collier Engineering – has outlined a specific set of solutions for significantly-enhanced flood protection in the Woodstock Neighborhood.
Clarksville Mayor Joe Pitts and other City leaders shared the information on the afternoon of Thursday, October 9th, 2025, in a Woodstock Neighborhood Meeting at Northeast Middle School.
“We are very glad to confirm that we have a workable plan to share and implement, after what has been a lengthy process of determining the best solution for helping Woodstock residents who have been plagued by repeated flooding,” said Mayor Pitts.
“Our team studying this process has been confronted by a very complicated set of circumstances. The unique topographical and geological issues in and around this particular neighborhood are central to the challenge, and have required a meticulous engineering effort.
“And, the specter of several months of historic rainfall in our community added to the urgency to take decisive action. Obviously, no one wants to see this problem repeated, ever again,” Mayor Pitts said.
“Ultimately, we’ve wanted to reach a solution that reflects the highest level of professional forethought and expertise, to help ensure that what we accomplish in Woodstock brings sustained, meaningful flood relief, and respects the interests of both the Neighborhood and all City taxpayers. We want to get this right,” he said.
Here’s a breakdown of the action plan:
Defining the unique problem in Woodstock:
– An unknown network of karst features is in the area, which likely shares connectivity with a massive topographical depression just north of the Tennessee-Kentucky state line.
– The lowest point in the area encompasses 13 square miles of stormwater drainage in high-volume rainfall events, the preponderance of which is in Kentucky, outside the City of Clarksville’s scope of control.
– Tennessee Department of Environment & Conservation (TDEC) stormwater guidelines require Clarksville to take on the uphill water from Kentucky.
Defining the unique solution and explaining why it is the correct option to implement:
– Creating additional stormwater storage capacity within the Woodstock basin, which would create the ability to better-sustain the “storm surge” during heavy rains, is the best solution. This is the first phase of the project developed by the City’s third-party engineers.
– Then, the process would involve enabling the relocation of excess waters to an adjacent tributary that does not share the same basin watershed. This is the second phase of the project, and it involves pumping stormwater eastward, through an existing drainage easement along the state line, to a tributary that flows into Spring Creek.
Next steps in Woodstock:
– Bids have been received by the City of Clarksville Street Department for the Woodstock stormwater management project, and a bid award is now pending.
– The City of Clarksville will continue to update Woodstock residents and the public through each step of implementation.
