Water Pollution - As introduced, requires local approval of a tipping fee for application of sludge from water treatment plants onto agricultural lands, with proceeds earmarked for water treatment facilities, as a condition of such applications continuing in a locality; places a moratorium on certain permits in jurisdictions that do not provide such local approval. - Amends TCA Section 1-3-105; Title 5; Title 6; Title 7; Title 13, Chapter 7; Title 43; Title 68 and Title 69.

SB 1657 requires counties, municipalities, and metropolitan governments to approve sludge application from wastewater treatment plants to agricultural land through a two-thirds vote resolution. This approval must establish a fee per ton of sludge collected by the wastewater facility and remitted to the local government, with funds restricted to building and maintaining local wastewater facilities. The bill places a moratorium on new or renewed permits for sludge application in areas without such local approval, effective July 2026. It directly affects wastewater operators, local governments, and agricultural landowners by creating a new local permitting requirement tied to funding for water infrastructure.