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Water Quality
Division
Water Quality Division Overview
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About Your Water
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Cross-Connection Program |
WQD Home Page
WELLHEAD PROTECTION
PROGRAM
The
Wellhead Protection Program was created by the 1986
Amendments to the Safe Drinking Water Act. The goal of
the Wellhead Protection Program is to protect our ground
water sources from contamination.
The
Memphis Sands Aquifer underlies approximately 7,400
square miles in Western Tennessee ranging from 0 to 900
feet in thickness. At about 350 feet below the
surface, the City of Covington Water Treatment
Facility's four production wells tap into this clean
abundant source of drinking water. The focus of the
Covington
Wellhead Protection
Program is to
identify, document, and eliminate possible contaminants
within Covington's well water recharge area and provide
an alternative source contingency plan in the event of
groundwater contamination.
A capture
zone for each well (called the wellhead protection area)
is designated and a plan is developed and implemented
for managing potential contamination sources within the
wellhead protection area.
If an
aquifer becomes contaminated, it is very
expensive to clean up, if you can clean it up at all.
One gallon of gasoline has the potential to contaminate
approximately one million gallons of water. What does
this mean for our future? Our waste disposal methods
and common handling practices of chemicals determines
how we will live tomorrow. The efforts that we make now
to protect our water source will ensure the quality of
life for our community in the future. |
