diff --git a/conf/cheaha.config b/conf/cheaha.config
index 323a625..578259c 100644
--- a/conf/cheaha.config
+++ b/conf/cheaha.config
@@ -5,9 +5,15 @@ params {
     config_profile_url = 'https://www.uab.edu/cores/ircp/bds'
 }
 
+env {
+    TMPDIR="$USER_SCRATCH"
+    SINGULARITY_TMPDIR="$USER_SCRATCH"
+}
+
 singularity {
     enabled = true
     autoMounts = true
+    runOptions = "--contain --workdir $USER_SCRATCH"
 }
 
 process {
diff --git a/docs/cheaha.md b/docs/cheaha.md
index 9d871c3..fb04c88 100644
--- a/docs/cheaha.md
+++ b/docs/cheaha.md
@@ -13,6 +13,8 @@ module load Singularity
 module load Nextflow
 ```
 
+Various tasks will be run inside of Singularity containers and all temp files typically written to `/tmp` and `/var/tmp` are instead written to the path pointed to by the `USER_SCRATCH` environment variable. This means that these temp files are stored in a user specific location, making them inaccessible to other users for pipeline reruns. Some of these temp files can be large and cleanup is also the responsibility of the user.
+
 All of the intermediate files required to run the pipeline will be stored in the `work/` directory. It is recommended to delete this directory after the pipeline has finished successfully because it can get quite large, and all of the main output files will be saved in the `results/` directory anyway.
 
 > NB: You will need an account to use the HPC cluster on Cheaha in order to run the pipeline. If in doubt contact UAB IT Research Computing.</br></br>