U.S., Tennessee in Clean Water Pact With Chattanooga Over Sewage

Chattanooga will be required to fix sewage overflows and make infrastructure investments to its wastewater treatment system to improve local water quality, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Tennessee announced.

“Today’s agreement with the city of Chattanooga will rehabilitate their aging sewer system and promote innovative green infrastructure efforts to reduce stormwater runoff,” the EPA said in a statement on the Clean Water Act agreement.

Chattanooga “will enjoy public health and environmental benefits for years to come as a result of the improvements required,” said Ignacia S. Moreno, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. They include sewer rehabilitation projects and stormwater controls to fix overflows and reduce public health risks from untreated sewage, Moreno said.

Sites for improvements and compliance of water quality standards include part of the Chattanooga Creek, a tributary of the South Chickamauga Creek and the Dobbs Branch stream, according to the statement.

To contact the reporter on this story: Randall Hackley in Zurich at rhackley@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Randall Hackley at rhackley@bloomberg.net