Memphis enjoys some of the purest water in the country, thanks to a layer of clay that keeps impurities out of its enormous aquifer.
But gaps, or "breaches," in that clay layer pose a threat to the quality of the city's drinking water.
That's why the University of Memphis' Center for Applied Earth Science and Engineering Research (CAESER) is mapping those breaches -- areas where contaminants could enter the groundwater.
“It is disconcerting as more and more breaches are found just how unprotected our groundwater may be and just how critical it is that we figure this stuff out,” said Brian Waldron, director of CAESER.
At a recent public forum in the Hollywood neighborhood of north Memphis, Waldron walked attendees through five research projects that comprise the first part of a five-year, multi-million dollar study. CAESER has identified 15 known or suspected breaches in the clay sheet. Waldron says that knowing the exact locations will help experts figure out how quickly contamination might travel through them.
One breach, recently discovered near toxic coal ash ponds leftover from the now-shuttered Allen Fossil Fuel Plant in southwest Memphis, has some environmentalists worried about arsenic seeping from groundwater into the deeper Memphis Sand Aquifer.
Waldron says the city’s water supply is currently safe, but the study will help officials and experts be more vigilant, and possibly avert disaster.
“We don’t want to become a Flint, Michigan,” Waldron said, referring to the midwest city’s infamous lead-contamination water crisis. “So our dollars are going toward understanding [threats to our supply] now, so we can take proactive measures and protective measures to never to get to that [situation]."
One graduate student is specifically working on identifying breaches near the coal ash ponds.
CAESER is promoting the study effort as “Your Water, Your Research.”
That’s because you’re paying for it. About 18 cents of residents' Memphis Light Gas and Water bill funds the large-scale study.
The center intends to host more public forums as new studies begin.
A previous version of this article misstated where the public forum was held. It was held in the Hollywood neighborhood in north Memphis.