Collierville’s town administrator James Lewellen says the Carrier Corporation is an involved and good corporate citizen. It also has a cleanup problem.
The company's request to inject treated wastewater from a polluted superfund site into the Memphis Sand Aquifer, the source of the county's drinking water, has now put Collierville officials in the spotlight.
“Clearly the Board [of Mayor and Alderman is] concerned,” he says. “I think they're [the board] approaching it with a lot of caution.”
Lewellen was one of about 30 people who attended an information meeting this week hosted by the non-profit Protect Our Aquifer. Environmental advocates took issue with Carrier’s proposal.
For decades the air conditioning manufacturing company has been removing the carginoegic chemical trichloroethylene (TCE) from ground water below its site. It then pipes the treated water to a Collierville sewage plant for disposal.
Carrier wants to expedite the process by injecting the water treated for TCE back into the aquifer. During heavy rain events, they say they have to shut down their water pumps because the sewage plant becomes overwhelmed with an intake of water.
Company representatives have said that any injected water would meet drinking water standards, but environmental groups say that water returned to the aquifer would likely contain other dangerous contaminants, including chromium, which has intruded from anothernearby cleanup siteknown as Smalley-Piper.
Carrier told water regulators last year that their proposed water extraction and injection methods would circumvent chromium contamination, but opponents argue the company’s scientific models are incomplete and vague.
“We’d like a full report that is highly detailed and shows a complicated movement of water through the Memphis Sand Aquifer...as well as the full characterization of the extent of contamination that we know is in that area,” says Nate Watson, a staff attorney with the Southern Environmental Law Center.
Lewellen says Collierville officials need more information before they take a stance on the proposal but that they prioritize public health.
“The ramifications are significant,” he says. “I mean if we get this wrong, and we damage the aquifer, that’s a big deal, and it’s not easily reversed.”
Injection wells are banned in Shelby County, but Carrier asked water regulators to grant them an exemption last year. Before making a final decision, the Shelby County Groundwater Control Board wants the company to provide a more detailed analysis on alternative solutions to water injection.
In a statement, Carrier said it was addressing feedback from the board and would share information as it becomes available.