The city of Memphis told local officials Thursday that its efforts to ease the burden on its strained sewer system will definitely include myriad tanks to store sewage so it can be off-loaded during the middle of the night. 

This practice is already in place for private developments in northeast Memphis and Bartlett. It has been known for some time that Memphis would have to build the tanks but Thursday's news amounted to detailed specifics, a timeline for when the city would build the first two tanks and the overall cost.

"The flow has to stay in that pipe. That's the critical thing," Memphis Public Works Director Robert Knecht said Thursday. The tanks are needed to help withstand heavy rainstorms, which bring rainwater into sewer pipes and cause sanitary sewer overflows.

Those sanitary sewer overflows are what Memphis is tasked with reducing under the consent decree it has with the Environmental Protection Agency, which started in 2012. 

"One of them is going to be near Bellevue [Baptist] Church and Interstate 40. The other is going to be near Hillshire [Drive]  and Whitten Road," Knecht told several Shelby County and municipal leaders at the Joint Economic Development Board meeting in Bartlett Thursday. 

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The prospect of large storage tanks has been talked about throughout the past several years. Knecht appeared before the same body in late 2018 to talk about storage tanks planned for the same locations. However, now the city seems to be moving forward with build-out. 

Knecht said city hopes the Hillshire and Bellevue storage tanks would be complete by the end of 2023 so the city can end the moratorium on development in the Fletcher Creek sewage basin — an area that includes the northeast part of the city that borders Bartlett. The two tanks will each hold 1 million gallons of sewage and cost a combined $19 million. 

The whole $228 million plan includes tanks in other locations including:

The city is also suggesting Bartlett build three tanks and Germantown build one. 

The city's sewer system is essentially divided into northern and southern halves with Poplar Avenue being close to the dividing line. The city is still studying where it would put storage tanks in the southern half of the city.  

Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached by email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter at @samhardiman.