A Knoxville-based environmental group has sued Chattanooga for violating state and federal water regulations by spilling more than 310 million gallons of untreated sewage into the Tennessee River over the past 4 1/2 years.
"This is citizenry stepping up," said Renee Hoyos, executive director of the Tennessee Clean Water Network, which filed the suit and has members locally.
PDF: TCWN v. Chattanooga Complaint
"It is so bad for the city to have this problem, especially a city like Chattanooga," she said.
Richard Beeland, spokesman for Mayor Ron Littlefield, said the city was aware of the lawsuit, but "because this is pending litigation, we are unable to comment."
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court, alleges that Moccasin Bend Wastewater Treatment Plant and its combined sewer system had 489 sanitary sewer overflows between January 2006 and June 2010.
In addition to polluting the river, overflows also released nearly 35 million gallons of raw sewage into nearby creeks, roads, businesses and private residences, according to the lawsuit.
Hoyos said the group has filed similar lawsuits in Memphis and Knoxville, and the suits sped up those cities' efforts to work with state and federal regulators to tighten standards and stop spills.
The suit seeks no damages for the Tennessee Clean Water Network, only payment of its attorney and expert fees and court costs.
Instead, the complaint asks the court to "declare that the city has violated and continues to violate the Clean Water Act" and issue an injunction requiring the city to comply fully with its permit and prohibit all future overflows.
The suit also asks the court to make the city to pay civil penalties "for each violation of the (Clean Water) Act ... in an appropriate amount."
"We're not doing this to punish the city," Hoyos said. "Chattanooga is a cool city, and it would be even cooler without this problem."
Hoyos said the groups' lawsuit was necessary because "the state seems to be unwilling to do it themselves."
"To be fair, if the state had stepped in years ago and required that the city fix this problem, we would not be here today," she said.
Tisha Calabrese-Benton, spokeswoman for the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, countered that the state does have an enforcement history with Chattanooga.
"The city has made some progress, but not enough," she said.
TDEC regulators have been coordinating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to determine what further enforcement action should be taken on Moccasin Bend's sanitary sewer violations and overflows, she said.
"I would also note that it is because of the ongoing oversight of state and federal regulatory programs that the TCWN has information with which to file their lawsuit, as the law allows them to do," she said.