Wastewater woes? How sewer spending impacts Chattanoogans
We’ve all smelled what’s wafting up from below Chattanooga’s streets. But how much do you know about the city’s water work?
By William Newlin
Fast facts
In 2013, Chattanooga signed a legally binding agreement, or consent decree, with the Environmental Protection Agency to stop wastewater entering the TN River due to overflowing sewers
The city has reduced the volume of wastewater that overflows due to heavy rain by 88% since 2014
$286 million has been spent so far on consent decree-related infrastructure projects. An estimated $580 million more is scheduled
Ron McGill has lived in his home near the intersection of North Access Road and DuPont Parkway for four decades. He used to be known for his Christmas lights. Thousands of bulbs and dozens of pieces glistened in his front garden, which is covered in flowers, tall plants, knickknacks, and a cluttered gazebo. But he stopped decorating. He said the smell embarrassed him.
“I was sort of discouraged because I didn’t want people to come out here and smell sewage,” McGill said.
Not long after he moved in with his wife, he said the City of Chattanooga built a sewage pump station across the street. (A pump station collects and pushes wastewater against gravity to keep it flowing toward a treatment plant.) Flooding problems followed, and McGill said heavy rain would cause sewage to overflow from nearby manholes.
“It would flood just in front of Ron’s house and one other house that was seldom occupied,” said Mark Mullins, head of the local neighborhood association. “It was a large pond or a small lake. I mean, it was that bad.”
Pictures of untreated wastewater, toilet paper, and even dead fish in McGill’s yard line the pages of a photo album he used to catalog the decades-long mess. Since 2004, the Wastewater Department has recorded 80 overflows from the pump station.
McGill said the odor and accompanying health concerns created a “total disaster” for his neighbors and him. Two streets over, Birmingham Drive experienced frequent overflows as well.
“I had the attitude that hogs lived better than what us human beings did out here,” McGill said.
Photos of sewage overflows emerging from manholes outside of Ron McGill's house on Memphis Drive and depositing waste in his front garden. Before replacing the old DuPont pump station across from McGill's home, the city recorded 80 overflows at the station going back to 2004. McGill said he's experienced overflows since the late 1980s. Photos courtesy Ron McGill.
Pumped up
Today, however, McGill's drainage ditches are clean. The flies and mosquitoes are gone. And so is the pump station.
Replacing it was a major undertaking for the city. The cost of all projects related to demolishing the old DuPont Pump Station, laying thousands of feet of pipe, and building a new station near Rivermont Park totaled more than $25 million, per the Wastewater Department.
“We had a lot of problems up in the Lupton area, in the DuPont neighborhood areas,” said Mark Heinzer, interim Wastewater administrator. “So that project was a huge one to get in place.”
Still, McGill and his neighbors fought hard to push the city away from its initial solution — building a new station on the same spot and adding a 7.5-million gallon storage tank to capture potential sewage overflow. Community meetings, input at Council sessions, and a protest at City Hall prompted the city to change plans. The new station now sits across from the Champions Club Tennis complex.
The change has been striking for McGill, who said he’s experienced one sewer overflow since the pump station’s demolition about a year ago. He can enjoy his yard again, feed deer that have returned to the woods nearby, and he said he might even resume his holiday showcase.
“It’s a blessing being out here,” he said. “And now since they tore that thing down, they got plenty of room to park out here and now see my Christmas lights.”
Plumbing projects
The new pump station is one of the many big-budget sewer projects that have dotted City Council agendas over the past 10 years. And they’re required. A legally binding agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency and the state of Tennessee — handed down due to wastewater entering local waterways in violation of federal and state clean water laws — has forced the city to update its sewer infrastructure.
Phase one projects stemming from the agreement (or consent decree) have cost the city $286 million since going into effect in 2013. Phase two projects scheduled through 2030 will cost another estimated $580 million, Heinzer said.
Part of the funding comes from low-interest state loans. Some comes from taxpayers, too, as sewer taxes have steadily increased over the past decade to accommodate city growth, the mandated wastewater projects, and inflation pressure on contracts.
The City of Chattanooga's new equalization station on Hamm Road came online last summer with three, 10-million gallon storage tanks preventing sewer overflows during heavy rain. Initially, the city planned to place a 7.5-million gallon station near Ron McGill's house, but community backlash prompted a change in plans. Photo from the Wastewater Department's consent decree update given to City Council on May 9, 2023.
McGill’s story exemplifies the intended goals of the consent decree: reducing harmful sewer overflows and replacing outdated infrastructure. For him, not having to watch sewer pour from a manhole or worry about neighborhood kids playing near his yard has been worth every penny.
“The city could spend another $10 million, and I wouldn’t gripe at all,” he said. “If people had to live through what I live through out here, I don't care how much money they spend.”
According to the Wastewater Department’s most recent consent decree report, the volume of wastewater overflowing the system due to heavy rain has declined 88% across Chattanooga since 2014. The department currently has 17 pump station upgrades and 5 new storage basins either planned or in progress.
“We still have a few areas that we need to work on,” Heinzer said. “And as part of the consent decree, that's the goal, right? All of those chronic overflows need to go away.”
You can find the Wastewater Department’s quarterly and annual consent decree reports going back to 2013 here.
Simple steps you can take
Given the scale of Chattanooga’s wastewater woes, it might seem like individual residents can’t do much to help. But the 1,300 miles of pipes and 30,000 manholes overseen by the city create a shared system meant to keep waste out of our yards and waterways. Here are a few small ways community members can make wastewater and stormwater flow smoother:
Only flush waste. Heinzer said there’s no such thing as a “flushable wipe,” and pieces of cloth clog up the screens filtering debris at the Moccasin Bend water treatment plant. Certain medicines shouldn’t be flushed either as they can pass through the treatment process into local waterways.
Keep your grease. Grease, like wipes, trash, and gravel can cause blockages and sewage overflows. Consider putting leftover cooking grease in a closed container and throwing it out.
Consider where you plant new trees. Their roots have a tendency to grow into pipes causing blockages and breakage.
Reduce runoff. Aside from certain combined pipe systems under downtown and surrounding neighborhoods, much of Chattanooga's stormwater and wastewater pipes are separate. But rain is still the No. 1 cause of overflows. Reducing runoff from yards can lower the amount of stormwater entering, and sometimes overloading, sewer pipes.
Native plants grow better in Tennessee soil, which lowers erosion, and they don’t need fertilizer or pesticides, which protects local waterways after rain.
Rain barrels can also help keep excess water out of drains and pipes.
Here’s a guide from the City of Chattanooga about protecting water quality in combined wastewater and stormwater areas.
Click these links for more information on city-subsidized programs for rain barrels, rain gardens, and native planting.
Follow @chattamatters on social media for a video highlighting how residents can take steps to prevent sewer overflows.