Kentucky: Murray - Murray Implements Wellhead Protection Background The City of Murray, population 22,000, is located in the Jackson Purchase region of western Kentucky. The city is home to a variety of industries, including manufacturing and chemical production. Murray has historically provided its own drinking water from 5 wells set in a semi-confined aquifer ranging from 200 to 300 feet in depth. The well can yield from 500 to slightly over 1,000 gallons per minute and total daily withdrawals average 3.5 million gallons per day (mgd). The City of Murray is classified as a public water supplier using ground water that is not under the direct influence of surface water. Once water is drawn from the underlying aquifer, it is routed through a treatment facility designed to handle up to 7 mgd. The treatment plant system aerates, filters, fluorinates, and chlorinates all drinking water before it is distributed throughout the city. Aeration is accomplished through cascading and filtration is accomplished by mixed media. Corrosion is controlled by the addition of caustic soda, fluoridation is accomplished by the addition of sodium fluoride, and disinfection is achieved by using chlorine gas. Priority Contamination Threat The priority contamination threat is from industrial and household hazardous waste. Local Involvement and Developing the Protection Plan The City of Murray started and completed its wellhead protection plan between the years 1996 and 2000, and updated the plan in 2006. For the Contaminant Source Inventory (CSI), the city used its own personnel and hired summer interns from Murray State University to complete a door-to-door inventory. Since the area is sewered and municipal water has been available for a long time, only the businesses within the protection areas were surveyed in connection with the CSI. The City of Murray's Planning and Engineering department then plotted all of the potential contaminant sources that were surveyed on an aerial map of the city. Management Strategies The City of Murray developed a phased approach to managing land uses surrounding each of its public supply wells. In the first phase, three wellhead protection areas were delineated to set boundaries for different management strategies and land use regulations. The first wellhead protection area consisted simply of a 400-foot fixed radius around the supply well. The second protection area was also set as a fixed radius, at 2,400 feet. The final protection area consisted of the hydrogeologic boundaries of the aquifer supplying the well. These mapped areas serve as the basis for restrictions on future land use development depending on the proximity to each well. The CSI and susceptibility analysis performed for the second phase of the management approach focused exclusively on businesses within the protection areas. Several Office of Water (4606M) 816F100013 January 2010 ------- businesses within the protection areas were found to contain potentially hazardous materials that would not have been allowed if the wellhead protection areas had been in place much earlier. These businesses were targeted for outreach and received pamphlets describing Best Management Practices that could be used to ensure that hazardous materials were not spilled or disposed of improperly. The existence of these businesses was reported to the Commonwealth of Kentucky's Division of Water to alert the organization of entities required to file a Groundwater Protection Plan. Further management strategies focus on increasing public awareness relative to wellhead protection. The water plant provides tours of the facilities to local schools. Water supply protection road signs have been placed on the main roads entering the Wellhead Protection Area with a phone number that can be called in case of an accidental spill. The city has also conducted "Waste Collection Days" every 3 months since 1995 for residents to bring their household hazardous waste to a central location for disposal. The City of Murray is also proposing to use the Consumer Confidence Report as a method of public education on wellhead protection and how to protect ground water for all of the residents in the area. Contingency Planning The City of Murray has several potential contingency strategies at the present time. If contamination were to occur at a level where treatment would be impossible, the city would either construct new wells or try to construct an intake on Kentucky Lake approximately 20 miles away. There has also been consideration of acquiring land for creating a surface reservoir. Currently, the city is looking to purchase land in sufficient amounts to include a 400-foot radius around a potential well-field, when it becomes available so that they will have additional sites for new wells. Measuring Program Effectiveness The water quality of the public supply wells within the City of Murray continues to meet or exceed all drinking water standards set at the state level. Outreach efforts are well received at the local schools and continue to be a regular event. Further success has been demonstrated with the continuing cooperation between the local water supplier and the state officials responsible for reviewing Groundwater Protection Plans from local businesses. CSIs performed on the local level continue to be instrumental in developing permitted management strategies for businesses within each of the three wellhead protection zones. For further information, contact: David Boyd City of Murray Water System (270) 762-0345 dboyd@ci.murray.ky.us Office of Water (4606M) 816F100013 January 2010 ------- |