David Crockett, director of the city's Office of Sustainability, said the city's stormwater regulations are being re-written to give heavy credits to those who invest in such water-holding structures as green roofs and pavement that is porous.
"If you do those sort of things, you would not have any stormwater fees," he said.
But Mr. Crockett said stormwater fees are probaly going to continue to climb for those who don't take steps to deal with runoff that goes into the city's miles of combined stormwater and sewer pipes.
He said Chattanooga stormwater fees in the past have been so low "that developers would not put in any systems to deal with it because paying the fees has been cheaper."
He said cities like Philadelphia, where he said the fees are five times as high as the new much-higher rates in Chattanooga, have gotten the attention of those with large roof and parking areas.
Mr.
Crockett said green roofs and porous paving are two devices that are now available to help bring great strides toward curbing runoff problems. He noted that the large amount of runoff now occurring in Chattanooga is bringing the wrath of regulators. The city may be hit with a $100 million enforcement edict.
He said, considering all the costs connected to runoff, that green roofs and porous paving, are good investments.
He said the green roof that is being installed on the rear portion of City Hall will save the city $500,000 over the life of the roof. He said that includes energy savings as well as savings on roof replacement. He said the City Hall green roof should last four times that of a standard roof.
Mr. Crockett said a figure was quoted earlier that a standard roof could be put on City Hall for $86,000. Actually, he said the standard roof with a leak detection and monitoring system would have cost $150,000.
He said the green roof is being grown now in Nashville. It will be installed in June and will be in place by the first of July.
He said you will be able to look down on it from the third floor of the older section of City Hall, and he said a webcam will be set up so those on the Internet can see it on a website.
Mr. Crockett said there are several different types of porous paving. He said Roadtec has three acres of porous asphalt paving and CHA's new Fairmount Apartment complex has porous paving blocks. He said the Chattanooga Fire Department poured thousands of gallons of water "and there was not a puddle left" at Fairmount. Both types have a substructure that leaves space for the rainwater to collect.
He said the paving blocks are manufactured in Rockwood, Tn., and are a more elegant look that the porous asphalt. He said he visited a church in Knoxville that had installed the pavers, which included a design with a church motif.
Mr. Crockett said, "Interestingly enough, the idea for the porous paving is only as old as the Romans. They built roads with substructures that were designed so their soldiers never got their feet wet. And they planted trees on both sides of the road to provide cooling and protection from the elements for their soldiers."
He said at the time Chattanooga built its Convention Center the idea was floated for a green roof for it. He said the idea was shot down by those who "joked about having to mow it."
He said Chicago Mayor Richard Daly heard of the plan for the Chattanooga green roof and had a green roof put on Chicago's City Hall. He said, "Now Chicago has 1,000 green roofs. Chattanooga had the idea back then, but somebody else ran with it and now we are way behind."