Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee -

Regional Aquifer Study

 
MAT-RAS is a collaborative effort between the state agencies and academic institutions of Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee to address water quantity and quality issues in the Memphis/Sparta aquifer and the connecting aquifer systems.  Increased growth and farming has begun to place a significant strain on the ground water resources in the region. 

Past studies on ground water quantity and quality by representatives from each state stopped at State lines.  Yet it was realized that to address current ground water management issues and to be proactive in sustaining the current ground water yield, the aquifer systems would need to be studied and analyzed in a holistic approach, breaching State line boundaries. 

To this end, a voluntary group of individuals from the Tri-State area has formed a consortium called MAT-RAS, the Mississippi, Arkansas, Tennessee – Regional Aquifer Study.

 

 Participants:

The participating agencies include individuals from state agencies and academic institutions committed to better understanding our shared ground water system and to the protection of this valuable natural resource.  The following is a list of the parties involved:

 

Mississippi

Department of Environmental Quality
          Office of Land and Water
          Office of Geology
USGS, Jackson
University of Mississippi

Arkansas
Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission
USGS, Little Rock

Tennessee
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
USGS, Nashville
University of Memphis - Ground Water Institute
Memphis Light, Gas & Water

Where are we now?

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) graciously sponsored a MAT-RAS meeting in Tunica January 8-9, 2003.  A state representative from Mississippi, Arkansas, and Tennessee presented to the group ongoing studies and the direction of planned work by their agency.  Following the presentations, breakout sessions pertaining to Hydrogeology, Data Collection and Ground Water Modeling were conducted to initiate ideas on where to go next with MAT-RAS.  Below is the final conference agenda, the meeting attendance list and the meeting notes.

In addition, the meeting minutes from the April 2003, Steering Committee meeting are available (draft).

Taking the next step forward...

Future meetings are being planned by voluntary leaders from each breakout session.  An executive committee consisting of five individuals will work with the session leaders, plan future MAT-RAS meetings, and seek consistent funding for MAT-RAS.

 

Past Accomplishments of MAT-RAS

In 2000, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) Division of Water Supply funded MAT-RAS to complete three tasks.

Task 1:

 Conduct a water level run on the Memphis/Sparta aquifer centered on Shelby County but crossing state lines to address issues of ground water declines in Mississippi owing to pumping in Shelby County.  The potentiometric surface map will be published as a USGS document.
Task 2: Analyze and report on the various regional ground water models as to the question(s) they were addressing, specifics on model boundaries, aquifers modeled, and stresses simulated, and a recommendation on updating a past regional model to be used today.  This report may be downloaded here.
Task 3: Formalize Brahana’s regional aquifer study into a USGS publication.  This publication may be downloaded here (6MB).