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Cooper: Will ‘reset’ move WWTA ball?

Ooltewah area residents, most of whom did not want a sewage treatment plant built in their community, fill the Fire Department Training Center last October during a public meeting on the issue.
Ooltewah area residents, most of whom did not want a sewage treatment plant built in their community, fill the Fire Department Training Center last October during a public meeting on the issue. Ooltewah area residents, most of whom did not want a sewage treatment plant built in their community, fill the Fire Department Training Center last October during a public meeting on the issue.

By Clint Cooper 3 min read

Although it appears the wheels of progress toward a permanent solution in determining how the Hamilton County Water and Wastewater Treatment Authority (WWTA) will handle the future of sewage in the fast-growing northeastern sector of the county appear to be grinding excessively slowly, at least they’re grinding.

That’s one way to look at what Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger called a “reset” on the issue at a community meeting at Central High School on Thursday night.

Right or wrong, the vote by the Hamilton County Commission in December to not allow a new sewage treatment plant at 7800 Mahan Gap Road kicked the can down the road on a solution to nasty spills and overflows. The treatment authority had deemed the Mahan Gap site as the best available geographically and the one that would cause the least to build.

Since then, rumors have mentioned that a series of storage tanks and pump stations might need to be built in the short term.

But Coppinger’s “reset” appeared more geared toward a new site, which he said WWTA was open to and even wanted a resident committee to help pick.