Wellhead protection aims to inventory and understand potential contaminant sources in the area surrounding public drinking supply wells. Preserving the area around wells protects the supply of drinking water.

State agencies require local or regional public water utilities to identify potential contaminant sources in wellfields or source water areas (i.e., reservoirs or streams) that supply drinking water. CAESER produces and maintains wellhead protection plans for various municipal utilities within Shelby County. As part of the plans, CAESER conducts annual windshield surveys within wellhead protection areas (WHPA) defined by groundwater models based on aquifer characteristics. Facilities that could potentially contaminate drinking water within the WHPA are inventoried and compared against our internal database of federal and state regulated facilities including, but not limited to, RCRA-facilities, Superfund, underground storage tanks, dry cleaners, solid waste, etc. The inventoried list of potential contaminant sources is provided annually to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) and the respective utility.