A $225,000 investment is allowing South Memphis residents to become “citizen scientists” to protect their groundwater
Protect Our Aquifer(POA) and the Alcy Ball Development Corporation (ABDC) announced a “first-of-its-kind community-led groundwater protection plan.” In it, the residents of the Alcy Ball neighborhood in South Memphis will participate in environmental testing, green infrastructure design, and strategic groundwater protection planning.
Partners for Places awarded $150,000 towards the plan, while the Hyde Family Foundation committed $75,000. The project will be carried out over the next two years.
“A groundwater protection plan identifies risks to underground drinking water sources — like the Memphis Sands Aquifer — and outlines actions to prevent contamination, manage land use responsible, and ensure clean water access for generations to come,” ABDC said in a statement.
The plan will show vulnerable areas, pollution, and more. That will inform decision-making for the community. Officials said that communities such as Alcy Ball have been susceptible to legacy pollution and unprotected drinking water.
The neighborhood sits on top of a “breach in the protective clay layer” that protects the Memphis Sands Aquifer. The corporation said that since 1992 plans to restore the site have been implemented however residents have been “distrustful” of those responsible.
“Despite the frequent overlap of clay layer breaches and legacy pollution, no entity has developed a groundwater protection plan to inform remediation and redevelopment efforts in an aquifer-aware manner,”ABDC said.
As a result of these oversights, the community has been susceptible to aging water infrastructure, leaving residents feeling powerless over their resources, officials said.
Sarah Houston, executive director of POA, said Memphis is “100 percent reliant on groundwater,” yet communities such as Alcy Ball are left out of proactive conversations.
Houston said this project “flips that script.”
“Alcy Ball will not be a passive beneficiary of this plan,” said Seth Harkins, executive director of Alcy Ball CDC. “We will be the authors of it.”
ABDC said they hope this will influence decisions for the rest of Shelby County, as it puts the power in the hands of neighborhood members.
“This showcase of sustainable land use practices, the team hopes, will help make the case for the transformative power of groundwater protection planning, and future countywide planning efforts,” ABDC said.
The project has technical support from the Memphis-Shelby County Office of Sustainability and Resilience (OSR) and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). These agencies will help improve access to resources and understanding of the process.
POA will also have a team of scientists and policy experts to help collect neighborhood input and data. This information will encompass environmental reviews, potential aquifer threats, ongoing pollution and more.
The data will then be used to create strategies for “aquifer-informed development” to prevent contamination. Researchers also hope to improve utility operations and other environmental investigations.