Page 18 - May June 2016 Vol 34 No1
P. 18
CHATTANOOGA By Don Green
Putting Out Fires Before They Start
The old saying that a dog biting a man permittee to raise the consciousness of the Above: Pervious concrete parking
is not news, but when a man bites a dog, public by encouraging everyone to ask: area
now that’s front page headlines! How “What can I do to reduce the amount of Left: Infiltration swale pond
about when a river catches fire? Is that pollution I create?” Below: Building a rain garden
front page news? It happened on a Sunday would address approximately the first one
morning in June 1969: the Cuyahoga The City of Chattanooga’s Public Works inch of rainfall. The preferred method is
River in Ohio caught fire from decades of Department, Water Quality Program is by attempting to mimic how undisturbed
industrial waste (though it wasn’t the first one of the four large Phase 1 MS4 storm- areas naturally treat rainfall: putting it into
or even the worst fire on the river). water permittees in the state. The Program the ground, evapotranspiring it back into
manages and implements the pass- the air (trees and other vegetation do this),
How about the near extinction of our through regulations from EPA to the Ten- and capturing and re-using the resource.
national symbol, the American Bald nessee Department of Environment and If you have ever been in the woods
Eagle? These two incidents, along with Conservation. Nashville, Knoxville and with a creek flowing through it during a
Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring, raised Memphis are the other Phase 1 Programs rainfall, you hardly get wet and the creek
the consciousness of the American people, in Tennessee. The MS4 permits expanded continues to run relatively clean; and if
and the government, to address the dete- in 2003 to cover smaller communities it rises, it only comes up slowly, if at all.
rioration of our waters. such as Hamilton County, Cleveland, Mother Nature captures most of the water,
Bradley County, and others under Phase absorbing it into the ground, replenishing
As a result of these and other occur- II requirements. the base-flow of the creeks, which allows
rences, the Environmental Protection the streams to continue to flow during
Agency and the Federal Clean Water Act A Paradigm Shift dry months. The trees and natural ground
(1972) were created to attack the sources cover intercept much of the rain.
of these salient point source pollutants: The City of Chattanooga is working Development practices would use trees
“discrete conveyance” of pollutants from under its second urban stormwater MS4 and landscaped areas of green to mimic
industries and waste water. permit. Some of the requirements changed nature (green infrastructure). This is a
significantly from the initial permit. One giant step from just digging a detention
After years of this concerted effort to major change has been the requirement pond for the water and slowly releasing
bring the nation’s industrial and municipal to have new development or significant the water into that pond to help solve
waste stream under control, pollutants re-development (over 1 acre outside of problems of streams deteriorating, habitat
still persisted that adversely affected our downtown area) to install practices that loss, or flooding.
drinking water, recreation, fisheries and Chattanooga has been set on the
wildlife. So the next target was abatement forefront for MS4s in the state to develop
of nonpoint source pollution, or NPS. The
majority of the nonpoint source pollution,
or runoff pollution, comes from agriculture
and residential areas. This includes excess
fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides plus
oil, grease and toxic chemicals from urban
runoff. Sediment from construction sites
and stream bank deterioration from high
velocities are also problematic. Also harm-
ful are acid mine runoff and nutrients from
livestock, pet wastes and faulty or unmain-
tained septic systems.
What is a MS4?
The Water Quality Act of 1987 expanded
the CWA program to regulate stormwa-
ter discharges especially from municipal
separate storm sewer systems (MS4), which
the City of Chattanooga has been working
under since 1996, and industrial sources.
The MS4 permits require municipali-
ties to use Best Management Practices to
reduce pollutants and monitor the waters
to determine long term effectiveness of
the program to the “Maximum Extent
Practicable.” The permit also required the
18 TPW May/June 2016
Putting Out Fires Before They Start
The old saying that a dog biting a man permittee to raise the consciousness of the Above: Pervious concrete parking
is not news, but when a man bites a dog, public by encouraging everyone to ask: area
now that’s front page headlines! How “What can I do to reduce the amount of Left: Infiltration swale pond
about when a river catches fire? Is that pollution I create?” Below: Building a rain garden
front page news? It happened on a Sunday would address approximately the first one
morning in June 1969: the Cuyahoga The City of Chattanooga’s Public Works inch of rainfall. The preferred method is
River in Ohio caught fire from decades of Department, Water Quality Program is by attempting to mimic how undisturbed
industrial waste (though it wasn’t the first one of the four large Phase 1 MS4 storm- areas naturally treat rainfall: putting it into
or even the worst fire on the river). water permittees in the state. The Program the ground, evapotranspiring it back into
manages and implements the pass- the air (trees and other vegetation do this),
How about the near extinction of our through regulations from EPA to the Ten- and capturing and re-using the resource.
national symbol, the American Bald nessee Department of Environment and If you have ever been in the woods
Eagle? These two incidents, along with Conservation. Nashville, Knoxville and with a creek flowing through it during a
Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring, raised Memphis are the other Phase 1 Programs rainfall, you hardly get wet and the creek
the consciousness of the American people, in Tennessee. The MS4 permits expanded continues to run relatively clean; and if
and the government, to address the dete- in 2003 to cover smaller communities it rises, it only comes up slowly, if at all.
rioration of our waters. such as Hamilton County, Cleveland, Mother Nature captures most of the water,
Bradley County, and others under Phase absorbing it into the ground, replenishing
As a result of these and other occur- II requirements. the base-flow of the creeks, which allows
rences, the Environmental Protection the streams to continue to flow during
Agency and the Federal Clean Water Act A Paradigm Shift dry months. The trees and natural ground
(1972) were created to attack the sources cover intercept much of the rain.
of these salient point source pollutants: The City of Chattanooga is working Development practices would use trees
“discrete conveyance” of pollutants from under its second urban stormwater MS4 and landscaped areas of green to mimic
industries and waste water. permit. Some of the requirements changed nature (green infrastructure). This is a
significantly from the initial permit. One giant step from just digging a detention
After years of this concerted effort to major change has been the requirement pond for the water and slowly releasing
bring the nation’s industrial and municipal to have new development or significant the water into that pond to help solve
waste stream under control, pollutants re-development (over 1 acre outside of problems of streams deteriorating, habitat
still persisted that adversely affected our downtown area) to install practices that loss, or flooding.
drinking water, recreation, fisheries and Chattanooga has been set on the
wildlife. So the next target was abatement forefront for MS4s in the state to develop
of nonpoint source pollution, or NPS. The
majority of the nonpoint source pollution,
or runoff pollution, comes from agriculture
and residential areas. This includes excess
fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides plus
oil, grease and toxic chemicals from urban
runoff. Sediment from construction sites
and stream bank deterioration from high
velocities are also problematic. Also harm-
ful are acid mine runoff and nutrients from
livestock, pet wastes and faulty or unmain-
tained septic systems.
What is a MS4?
The Water Quality Act of 1987 expanded
the CWA program to regulate stormwa-
ter discharges especially from municipal
separate storm sewer systems (MS4), which
the City of Chattanooga has been working
under since 1996, and industrial sources.
The MS4 permits require municipali-
ties to use Best Management Practices to
reduce pollutants and monitor the waters
to determine long term effectiveness of
the program to the “Maximum Extent
Practicable.” The permit also required the
18 TPW May/June 2016
