Aquifer advocates want more funding for water control board

When Protect our aquifer was brought together informally in 2016, the group had a single goal: to prevent the Tennessee Valley Authority drilling wells in the Memphis Sand aquifer and pumping that water to the Allen Combined Cycle Plant.

The group of advocates came together, with help from an established environmental advocacy group. The Sierra Cluband appealed to the Shelby County Groundwater Control Board to prevent TVA from obtaining well permits.

The often overlooked board consisted of an engineer appointed by the mayor of Memphis, a licensed well driller appointed by the mayor of Shelby County, five municipal representatives, the director of the health department of Shelby County, the chairman of Memphis Light, Gas & Water (or a representative of MLGW) and two civilian members appointed by the mayors of Shelby County and Memphis – is responsible for approving these permits, but acted as a board of directors in recent years, according to the executive director of Protect Our Aquifer. Sarah Houston.

“It was really a rubber stamp situation,” Houston said. “It was like, ‘Are the paperwork filled out correctly? Looks good. Here are the permits.'”

Protect Our Aquifer has lost that appeal. Then their lawsuit was dismissed.

Groundwater Council ‘starting to wake up,’ advocate says

But the effort was not in vain, and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) eventually told TVA it could not use its own wells. THE coal ash The ponds near which they pumped groundwater were polluting the shallow aquifer, and the use of these wells was moving the pollution to the Memphis Sand Aquifer, where Memphians get their drinking water, TVA reported to TDEC at ‘era.

The Memphis Sand Aquifer resides in eight states, with an area of approximately 7,000 square miles. Layers of sand, silt and clay filter and protect the water from most contaminants, making pumped drinking water some of the cleanest in the world. Some of the water in the aquifer has been present for hundreds or even thousands of years.

However, some areas of the aquifer have gaps in the protective clay layer that would prevent pollution from entering the water. Finding and mapping these violations has become one of Protect Our Aquifer’s top priorities.

Although the Groundwater Control Board has not seen such a high-profile permit application in the years since, Houston said the board still operates as a rubber-stamp organization. But it’s “starting to wake up,” she says.

Although it acts primarily as an appeals board to approve or deny permits, many of which Houston says are approved, she says the board, as it was created, has immense power over how the Shelby County groundwater is used.

The problem, she says, is funding. If the board had the appropriate resources, it could authorize scientific investigations, initiate a wellhead protection program, and create a monitoring well network program.

“They’re kind of supposed to steer the ship,” Houston said of the board.

Raising fees could lead to better reviews and outcomes, one lawyer says.

Technical staff from the Shelby County Health Department would then perform the field work. However, according to Houston, that six-person staff is under-resourced and currently only has the capacity to conduct site assessments for septic tank and well permits.

Houston said currently the Health Department’s Water Quality Division receives about $150,000 a year from the general fund and must provide all other funding through permit fee revenue.

The Water Quality Division’s budget is only a fraction of Protect Our Aquifer’s operating budget.

Part of the problem, Houston said, is that well permit fees are so low and haven’t been updated since 1999. Working with the Water Quality Division, they have discussed proposals that could help increase funding.

At the top of that wish list, Houston said, is an increase in permit fees. Currently, about $100,000 comes from these fees each year for the Water Quality Division. The proposed increases would raise $600,000 a year and will need approval from the Groundwater Control Board.

“One of the things that’s really interesting to note is that this fee is a one-time fee,” Houston said. “You will pay this fee one time when you build a new home or after your septic system has been buried for 20 years and you need to update or repair it.”

Working alongside staff and making presentations to the Groundwater Control Committee, Houston said she believes progress toward more water-related reforms may be on the horizon.

“We have more information and scientific data about our aquifer than ever before and we’re making them spend time understanding that and determining … how we’re going to create strategies that will protect the quality and quantity of our water “Houston said. “That’s the board’s intention, that’s what we really need them to step up and do and Protect Our Aquifer wants to support that in any way we can.

“We see that their success is our success.”