The city of Chattanooga is requesting "expressions of interest" for professional development of a plan to consolidate area water, wastewater and water quality facilities and services.
The document says those services are too fragmented and the area would be better served to have a unified agency in charge.
Officials of the Tennessee American Water Company have repeatedly said the local water company is not for sale, and TAW fought off a takeover attempt under the administration of Mayor Jon Kinsey. There are a number of smaller water providers, including the Eastside and Hixson utility districts.
In addition to the city's sewer system that includes the huge Moccasin Bend Treatment Plant, the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority covers a wide area. And a small treatment operation is at the Windstone development near the Georgia line.
The document cites the need for "modern, efficient and responsive state of the art utilities."
It says there currently is "a jigsaw puzzle" of providers.
The proposals are due Sept. 12 and are to be reviewed by a city professional services committee.
A review committee consisting of individuals selected by the City will receive and review all REI s submitted. The City, in its sole judgment, will decide if a REI is viable.
The document says:
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INTRODUCTION
The Greater Chattanooga community learned a valuable lesson about “unity” when the city and county worked together seamlessly and effectively to attract Volkswagen. Over the years there has been a sort of football rivalry between the two local governments that sometimes ranged from good natured competition to occasional outright hostility. When crews from the two large public works departments were assigned to work together on initial clearance and prep of the site, it was suggested that a fight might break out. Actually, the spirit of teamwork and the unique promise of seeking a worthy goal together was a heartening thing to watch.
Another lesson from recent economic development successes is the need for modern, efficient and responsive state of the art utilities more focused on the delivery of quality services and less affected by organizational differences or by jurisdictional limits and politics.
The present map of water and sewer services in Chattanooga is a jigsaw puzzle of public and private entities of greater or lesser size and capability. If Chattanooga is to make the most of present opportunities, the present hodge-podge cannot be allowed to continue.
The heart of the regional sewer system is the city owned and operated Moccasin Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant and the large system of interceptor sewers, pump stations and major collector lines. This significant community asset represents an investment of about $500 million. If built today, the 140 million gallon per day plant would cost $300 million, the 70 pump stations would cost about $210 million and the more than 1268 miles of sewers would cost $1.4 billion. In total, the system is worth almost $2 billion.
The second major piece of the areawide sewer system is the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority (WWTA) which has constructed a system of collector lines linking new subdivisions with the Chattanooga system. They also manage and maintain a number of smaller municipal systems under contract.
A small but important anomaly is the privately owned and operated sewer system that serves the Windstone subdivision. This system has struggled with environmental and odor problems and is an example of the difficulty of managing small, stand-alone systems in a complex and technically challenging field of work.
Potable water systems include the increasingly important Eastside Utility, the Tennessee American Water Company, Hixson Utility and a few smaller public utility district operations. Eastside is updating and utilizing the old Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant system and has the capability of expanding to provide a volume of treated water that could serve the demands of the entire community. Eastside draws its raw water from the Tennessee River at an intake point well above the Chickamauga Dam. Tennessee American’s intake is below the dam near Erlanger Hospital. Hixson uses wells as its principal water source. The primary need is an interconnected system with redundant facilities that can guarantee an uninterrupted flow of clean, drinkable water under almost any conditions. If properly interconnected and coordinated, The entire community would have a system for guaranteeing clean, drinkable water with backup capacity that would exceed the resources offered by most comparable communities. Unfortunately, not all utilities have been willing participants in efforts to share technical information that could lead to a reliable, interconnected regional system.
The provision of modern water and sewer services is a very technical, complex and sometimes expensive process. While bigger might not always be better, in the case of water and sewer services, larger operations are generally preferable to attract and retain competent staff and necessary to properly address state and federal environmental issues and regulations. It is also a fact that there are some areas within the urban area that currently have inadequate water lines and other service deficiencies. Accordingly, it is important that utilities be of sufficient size and posses the economic capability to upgrade, replace and repair infrastructure where needed. The Electric Power Board is a good model of just such a utility.
As a community, the Chattanooga area has experienced and demonstrated the value of unity through recent economic development successes. Just within recent months, a gathering of elected officials from Southeast Tennessee and Northwest Georgia focused on ways to improve the potential for quality growth across the 13 county regions. One of the more prominent factors under review was the need for coordinated water and sewer resources. The group discussed the sensitive but necessary process of breaking down emotional resistance and merging small utility districts into a more workable, larger entity. It was acknowledged that the greatest resistance often relates to individual attachments to membership on utility boards and other small and personal matters.
In the Chattanooga Hamilton County urban area, the real challenge is to put aside egos and jurisdictional prejudices and get on with the serious business of building a better community for our children and grandchildren. To accomplish its full potential, the community needs a unified, regional water and sewer utility.
The Chattanooga community has successfully negotiated the challenges of the recent great recession. While other cities are struggling and declining, Chattanooga has been recognized by the US Bureau of Census as the fastest growing large city in Tennessee. With all the positive momentum of the recent past, the Chattanooga community has an unprecedented opportunity for continued growth..
The City of Chattanooga (City) offers this Request for Expression of Interest (REI) to solicit the a broad array of approaches and ideas to allow the City to develop a plan for the consolidation of areawide water, wastewater, and water quality in the most efficient and cost effective manner. This plan for consolidation of services will help the City and areawide utilities satisfy the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), and Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GEPD) requirements in a manner that minimizes impact on ratepayers and improves areawide water quality.
The areawide consolidation of services planning area covers the original 201 areawide facilities planning area developed in the mid 1970’s. The planning area includes two states, four counties, and 15 municipalities. Included are Hamilton County in Tennessee and Catoosa, Dade, and Walker Counties in Georgia. It includes the Cities or Towns of Chattanooga, Collegedale, East Ridge, Lakesite, Lookout Mountain, Red Bank, Ridgeside, Signal Mountain, Soddy Daisy, and Walden in Tennessee; and Cities of Chickamauga, Fort Oglethorpe, Lookout Mountain, Ringgold, Rossville, and Trenton in Georgia. The population served in the areawide planning area exceeds 300,000.
The entire service area is a portion of the Tennessee River watershed. In addition to the Tennessee River, streams flow into the City of Chattanooga from the north, east and south. The City is literally at the bottom of the topographic bowl, which complicates attempts to deal with problems such as sanitary sewer and combined sewer overflows. Many of the streams are contaminated by overflowing septic tanks, inadequate sewers, construction activities, and agricultural fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides before they cross the municipal boundary into Chattanooga.
Major streams within the planning area crossing the state line and other geographical boundaries include Lookout Creek, Chattanooga Creek, South Chickamauga Creek, North Chickamauga Creek, Mountain Creek, and Citico Creek (totally within City)
There are both private and public water supply systems within the planning area.
Tennessee American Water Company (TAWC) is the largest producer/supplier (surface water) and distributor of water in the planning area. It is the only private or investor owned water supplier in the area. It serves about 75,000 customers in both Tennessee and Georgia. These include Chattanooga, East Ridge, Red Bank, Lookout Mountain, Suck Creek Utility District, and Lone Oak Utility District in Tennessee; and Rossville, Fort Oglethorpe, Lookout Mountain, and north Walker County in Georgia.
In Tennessee there are six (6) public utilities that provide water and distribution services to customers. These include Eastside (surface water), Hixson (spring and wells), Bakewell (wells), Sale Creek (wells), Savannah Valley (wells), and Soddy Daisy-Falling Water (wells), Suck Creek Utility District, Signal Mountain and Walden purchase and distribute water from TAWC.
In Georgia, there five (5) public or municipal utilities that provide water distribution services to customers. These include Dade County Water and Sewer Authority (surface water), Walker County Water and Sewer Authority spring and wells), Catoosa County Water and Sewer Authority (surface water), Fort Oglethorpe (surface water) and Ringgold (surface water).
Wastewater Facilities
There are four (4) wastewater treatment plants within the planning areal. These include the City’s regional Moccasin bend WWTP, the Signal Mountain WWTP in Tennessee and the Chickamauga WWTP and Trenton WWTP.
The140 mgd Moccasin Bend WWTP serves as a regional WWTP. It serves the City of Chattanooga, Collegedale, the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Authority (WWTA), Windstone (TN/GA), and Heritage Landing in Tennessee and Ringgold, Fort Oglethorpe, Lookout Mountain, and north Walker County in Georgia.
The WWTA serves sewered areas in the unincorporated areas of Hamilton County, the Cities and Towns of East Ridge, Red Bank, Lakesite, Lookout Mountain, Lakesite, Ridgeside, and Soddy Daisy.
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Water Quality (storm water) Areas
The City has a Phase 1 MS4 NPDES permit to deal with water quality issues that was renegotiated in 2011 with EPA and TDEC. The requirements in its new permit are more stringent and holds the City to higher water quality standards that those smaller urbanized areas surrounding the City that have been issued Phase 2 MS4 NPDES permits. This means that the City is held to more stringent water quality standards while those outside have lesser standards requiring the City to have to work harder to improve the water quality of the streams as they pass through the City.
Major streams within the planning area crossing the state line and other political boundaries within the planning area include Lookout Creek, Chattanooga Creek, South Chickamauga Creek, North Chickamauga Creek, Mountain Creek, and Citico Creek (totally within City).
Consent Decrees and CMOM
The City has recently negotiated a Consent Decree to deal with sanitary sewer overflows and water quality issues within its sewer system. It includes a $250 million capital improvement plan that will extend over a 16 year period.
The County WWTA is in the process of developing and implementing a Capacity, Management, Operations and Maintenance (CMOM) Program as a companion to the City’s efforts. The estimated cost of improvements is approximately $100 million.
The other regional users of the Moccasin Bend WWTP have agreed to voluntarily to develop and implement COMOM programs for their systems as well. New regional user contracts will need developed as a part of the Consent Decree requirements.
There are water, wastewater, and water quality service needs throughout the planning area that would be impacted and improved by consolidation of services.
In June 2012, the EPA published the Integrated Municipal Stormwater and Wastewater Planning Approach Framework. The purpose of this frame work is to provide further guidance for EPA, States and local governments in developing and implementing effective integrated plans under the Clean Water Act (CWA).
PURPOSE OF REI
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GENERAL
The purpose of this REI is to solicit the a broad array of approaches and ideas to allow the City to develop a plan for the consolidation of areawide water, wastewater, and water quality in the most efficient and cost effective manner.
OBJECTIVE OF REI
It is the objective of the City is to select a Consultant/Contractor to develop a plan for consolidation of services that will help the City and areawide utilities satisfy the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), and Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GEPD) requirements in a manner that minimizes impact on ratepayers and improves areawide water quality.