by Cassandra Stephenson, Tennessee Lookout
July 23, 2025

Residents of a South Memphis neighborhood will soon embark on a first-of-its-kind project to craft a protection plan for the drinking water stored in the earth beneath them.

The Memphis Sand Aquifer stretches across eight states in the Mississippi River Basin and provides clean drinking water for much of the Mid-South region, including Memphis. Layers of sand filter the water and a layer of clay closer to the surface protects the aquifer’s water from contamination, according to the University of Memphis.

But breaches in that clay layer can allow contaminated water to enter the aquifer, and growing demand for water for drinking, agriculture, industry and power puts additional pressure on the resource.

The Alcy Ball neighborhood, located in the crook between Elvis Presley Boulevard and Interstate 240, sits atop one of the known breaches.

The Alcy Ball Development Corporation and nonprofit advocacy organization Protect Our Aquifer will work with the Memphis-Shelby County Office of Sustainability and Resilience and the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation over the next two years to create a community-led groundwater protection plan.

A $150,000 award from Partners for Places — a grant program supporting urban sustainability projects — and $75,000 from the Hyde Family Foundation will support the collaborative’s work. 

The project will “center the voices and leadership of Alcy Ball residents, empowering ‘citizen scientists’ to guide environmental testing, green infrastructure design, and the creation of a groundwater protection strategy for the neighborhood,” according to a Tuesday news release from Protect Our Aquifer.

“Memphis is 100% reliant on groundwater. Yet communities like Alcy Ball — where pollution, disinvestment, and environmental vulnerability intersect — have been excluded from conversations about how to protect it,” Protect Our Aquifer Executive Director Sarah Houston said. “This project flips that script.”

The breach in the Alcy Ball neighborhood lies under the Memphis Defense Depot, a former World War II-era military warehouse that became a dumping ground for chemical waste, including Nazi mustard gas bombs, according to Protect Our Aquifer. The federal government declared the depot a Superfund site in 1992 after years of reports of pollution-related health issues from the majority-Black community. The Environmental Protection Agency has been remediating the site since 1998.

“Neighbors remain distrustful of both the institutions that surround the site’s cleanup and the safety of their backyards, playgrounds, and parks,” the release states.

The project will include a resident-led environmental review of the neighborhood’s potential aquifer threats, supported by technical experts. Community meetings will seek input on that data and proposals, and then residents will work with scientists and planners to transform the vetted data into a plan that guides land use with an eye toward conserving the aquifer.

The community will also select a site for a “green infrastructure demonstration project” designed by residents and brought to life by experts.

“Alcy Ball will not be a passive beneficiary of this plan. We will be the authors of it,” Alcy Ball Development Corporation Executive Director Seth Harkins said.

The collaborative hopes this project can serve as a model for community-led groundwater protection for Shelby County, according to the release.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.

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Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Left

This article emphasizes environmental justice, community empowerment, and addressing pollution impacts on a majority-Black neighborhood, themes often associated with center-left perspectives. It highlights government and nonprofit collaboration to protect natural resources while centering marginalized voices. The tone is factual and supportive of community-led environmental action, without overt partisan language or framing. Overall, the piece aligns with a center-left bias by prioritizing sustainability, social equity, and grassroots involvement in public policy decisions.