The Chattanooga, Tennessee-Georgia wastewater facilities planning area consists of most of Hamilton County in Tennessee and the northern portions of Dade, Walker, and Catoosa counties in Georgia. Included within the planning area are more than 21 governmental entities, including the municipalities of Chattanooga, East Ridge, Red Bank, Signal Mountain, Soddy-Daisy, Collegedale, Ridgeside, Lakesite, and Lookout Mountain in Tennessee, and Trenton, Rossville, Lookout Mountain, Chickamauga, Ringgold, and Fort Oglethorpe in Georgia. The total land area is 880 square miles, with an estimated population of 325,000.

The facilities plan was undertaken in an attempt to meet the following objectives:

• To improve and/or maintain the water quality within the streams, rivers, and lakes of the planning area.
• To meet the long-range needs for wastewater collection and treatment facilities.
• To eliminate existing sources of water pollution and health and sanitary problems, including untreated or inadequately treated wastes discharged into streams, poorly functioning septic tanks, and areas completely without treatment facilities.

The major elements of the study include the following:

Analysis of existing wastewater systems, including both public and private collection and treatment systems, septic tanks, and industrial waste discharges; identification of stormwater infiltration and inflow problems in these systems; characteristics of the industrial wastes being discharged; and identification of water quality problems in streams and rivers within the planning area.

A study of the planning area's future land use and projected population to serve as a basis for determining the size and location of wastewater facilities necessary to serve future residents.

An inventory of significant environmental features and an evaluation of environmental considerations.

An alternative analysis based on projected needs for the collection and treatment of current and future wastewater flows, including evaluating cost-effectiveness in meeting water quality objectives.

Selection of the recommended plan based on a total evaluation of data gathered from the four previous plan elements.