Clear Chattanooga: Rebranding a Consent Decree, Revitalizing a City

First it cleaned up its air quality, and now the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, is addressing SSOs

Clear Chattanooga: Rebranding a Consent Decree, Revitalizing a City

(Photo Courtesy of Chattanooga Department of Public Works)

Interested in Stormwater?

Get Stormwater articles, news and videos right in your inbox! Sign up now.

Stormwater + Get Alerts

The wastewater infrastructure system in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is undergoing a massive makeover, mostly in an effort to boost the system’s ability to handle a high volume of stormwater and wastewater during heavy rain events.

Sanitary sewer overflows (SSOs) recently caught the attention of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Chattanooga is actively tackling that issue under the terms of a 2013 consent decree agreement with the EPA, the state of Tennessee and the Tennessee Clean Water Network.

The city is making improvements to the Moccasin Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant, including the rehabilitation and upgrade of influent grit detritors and related splitter box in an effort to increase performance of the screening operations and reduce SSOs. (Photo Courtesy of Chattanooga Department of Public Works)
The city is making improvements to the Moccasin Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant, including the rehabilitation and upgrade of influent grit detritors and related splitter box in an effort to increase performance of the screening operations and reduce SSOs. (Photo Courtesy of Chattanooga Department of Public Works)

This consent decree is not the city’s first run-in with the EPA. Fifty years ago, Chattanooga had the distinction of having the worst air quality of any city in America. The city came together through public and private partnership to clean up the air, and boy did they succeed. In 2014 and 2015, Outside magazine named Chattanooga “Best Town” for its quantity and quality of adventure playgrounds as well as its vibrant neighborhoods. Today, the city hopes to accomplish the same turnaround with its water resources.

While fixing problems to meet the consent decree is a high priority, Chattanooga has also been busy rebuilding pump stations, improving processes, and making safety improvements. The ongoing Phase 1 includes 45 projects, 31 of which have been completed, five under construction, and the remaining projects are either in the planning/design stage or out for bid.

Like many cities, inflow and infiltration (I&I) is an ongoing problem and contributes to the SSO problem that is being addressed. Chattanooga has an interjurisdictional agreement program with its municipal satellite sewer systems that require each satellite to do its own rehab, respond to I&I issues, and meet a 3:1 peak flow rate. Jeffrey Rose, director of the Waste Resources Division for the City of Chattanooga Department of Public Works, says when they identify an issue or violation through smoke tests and CCTV inspections, the satellites do address the problems promptly.

The project involved a Sanitary Sewer Evaluation Study on 214,000 linear feet of pipe to identify areas where I&I was occurring. Approximately 29,000 linear feet of sewer and service pipeline were rehabilitated as a result of the study. (Photo Courtesy of Chattanooga Department of Public Works)
The project involved a Sanitary Sewer Evaluation Study on 214,000 linear feet of pipe to identify areas where I&I was occurring. Approximately 29,000 linear feet of sewer and service pipeline were rehabilitated as a result of the study. (Photo Courtesy of Chattanooga Department of Public Works)

The next step for Chattanooga is installing equalization stations to further reduce SSO events in specific locations. The above ground stations have been a touchy point with the public, according to Rose. While Chattanooga tries to locate the stations on out-of-the-way property owned by the city, there are times when they have to purchase land closer to people’s homes or businesses.

Even though the stations contain very diluted stormwater and wastewater and they drain out within 48 hours, it’s challenging to get people to approve an installation in their backyard so to speak.

Public communication

Primary funding for all the projects has been a series of loans through Tennessee’s SRF Loan Program, which administers Tennessee’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund Loan Program. Chattanooga has also been raising sewer rates for the last six or seven years, and yet, Rose says the city council and the public have been supportive. He attributes that support to a strong communication program.

Rose says early on they mainly communicated with the city council and the message was that it had to get done because the EPA is making them do it and they’ll get it trouble if they don’t. However, communication is now also aimed at the people of Chattanooga and the message is now one that promoted a clean environment, the elimination of sewer overflows and overall benefit to the city.

They’ve branded the effort to comply with the consent decree Clear Chattanooga and now promote its “3R Approach,” which stands for Restore, Repair and Replace.

“It’s given the public more visibility into what we’re doing, which is always good,” says Rose.  “We want to make sure people hear what we're doing with their money, it’s a lot of money.”

As for that particularly touchy point of underground storage tanks, communication is vital. Rose says people simply want to be heard and they want to know why specific properties were selected. Rose and his team developed an animation to show precisely what those wet-weather storage facilities do and why they are needed in the neighborhood.

“It’s pretty cool. People see it and say oh, I get it now,” says Rose.

Chattanooga sits right on the Tennessee River and boasts a 13-mile riverwalk providing visitors with not only a view, but plenty of outdoor activities, restaurants, the country’s first freshwater aquarium, a sculpture garden and more.

The city is committed to using the natural resources, such as the Tennessee River, as the foundations for revitalizing the downtown and restoring the relationship between natural resources and a great midsized city making this cleanup effort very good for Chattanooga. Rose is confident they will be successful. “If we can clean up our air, we can clean our water too.”



Discussion

Comments on this site are submitted by users and are not endorsed by nor do they reflect the views or opinions of COLE Publishing, Inc. Comments are moderated before being posted.