Bills would create regional aquifer board, require notice for wells

Memphis-area lawmakers this past week introduced two bills aimed at protecting water supplies, with one establishing a nine-member regional board to oversee the Memphis Sand aquifer and the other requiring a 14-day notice before wells are drilled.

The legislation offered by state Reps. G.A. Hardaway, D-Memphis, and Ron Lollar, R-Bartlett, and state Sens. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, and Lee Harris, D-Memphis, flows from the months-long controversy over plans by the Tennessee Valley Authority to pump 3.5 million gallons of water daily from the Memphis Sand to cool a power plant under construction in Southwest Memphis. Environmentalists and some scientists oppose the pumping, saying it could suck contaminants into the source of the city's drinking water.

Under House Bill 0816 and Senate Bill 0776, sponsored by Lollar and Kelsey, a regional management board would be appointed and endowed with "all of the powers, rights and privileges necessary" to preserve and protect the aquifer. The board also would work to enhance the aquifer's recharge, or flow of rain water into it, and to prevent pollution and waste of the resource.

The nine members would include the mayors of Shelby and two other counties within the approximately 20-county area of West Tennessee overlying the Memphis Sand. The governor would appoint the other six members, who would include two representing agricultural interests, two representing commercial interests, one environmentalist and one "expert" researcher.

Buried about 500 feet below Downtown Memphis, the aquifer supplies the city and surrounding municipalities and industries with high-quality water, most of which fell as rain at least 2,000 years ago.

Although the aquifer holds plentiful supplies, including an estimated 57 trillion gallons beneath Shelby County alone, recent studies have identified numerous gaps in a protective clay that could allow contaminants to seep into the Memphis Sand. At least two gaps are near the TVA Allen Combined Cycle Plant, where permits for five wells were upheld in a decision late last year by the county's Groundwater Quality Control Board.

Brian Waldron, director of the Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research at the University of Memphis, said the aquifer is a vital resource that needs regional management. But he noted it also extends into other states, including Arkansas and Mississippi.

"I think eventually we do need to start talking with our sister states," Waldron said.

The other legislation, House Bill 1393 and Senate Bill 0886, sponsored by Hardaway and Harris, requires anyone planning to install a well give at least 14 days advance notice to the state commissioner of Environment and Conservation or the local government with jurisdiction over wells in the area. Also, the bill requires publishing notices of intent to drill a well on the Internet, the bill states.

Scott Banbury, conservation chair for the Sierra Club's Tennessee chapter, said public notice is "super important" in safeguarding water resources. Under current county ordinances, there was no notice required of TVA's wells.

"This is one of our biggest problems," Banbury said. "Nobody would know that a permit was applied for or issued."