The WWTA was created in 1993 and is responsible for the public sewer system throughout the unincorporated areas of Hamilton County and the surrounding municipalities of East Ridge, Lakesite, Lookout Mountain, Red Bank, Ridgeside, Signal Mountain, and Soddy Daisy. Due to the inability to replace and rehabilitate its sewer infrastructure, these seven municipalities turned over their sewer systems for the to manage. Much of the sewer infrastructure inherited by the WWTA was aged and in dire need of rehabilitation or replacement. As a result, our system experiences sanitary sewer overlows (SSO's) and bypasses at the Signal Mountain Treatment Plant during periods of heavy rain which contaminates local streams and potentially pose a public health risk. 

As required by the Federal Water Pollution Act, the WWTA must address these issues to comply with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Tennessee Department of Transportation and Conservation (TDEC). Due to multiple years of Clean Water Act violations, the WWTA entered into a Consent Decree (CD) September 2023. The CD is a work agreement between the parties in which the WWTA agrees to comprehensively assess and rehabilitate the aged wastewater infrastructure with the goal of eliminating SSO's and bypasses of partially untreated sewage at the Signal Mountain Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP).

Like other utilities in southern regions under a CD (the City of Chattanooga, Knoxville, Nashville and Memphis), the WWTA is addressing bypasses of treatment at the Signal Mountain Wastewater Treatment Plant, sanitary sewer overflows (SSO’s) and inflow and infiltration (I&I) through scheduled projects in a multi-year $300 million rehabilitation effort. The sewer infrastructure plays a vital role in ensuring the quality of life across Hamilton County and the United States. The WWTA is committed to addressing the short-term and long-term sewer infrastructure challenges in Hamilton County and maximizing the lifespan of our communities’ wastewater infrastructure.

The Consent Decree was signed July, 16, 2024. All required deliverables related to the CD will be published in the Public Document Repository.