Data & Sources

Every number here comes from somewhere public.

This site does not produce original scientific data. Every polygon, well location, and statistic comes from public sources — primarily CAESER at the University of Memphis, USGS, and TDEC. If you want to dig deeper, use the links below to go to the source.

Sources

Memphis Sand Aquifer Recharge Area

· USGS / CAESER (University of Memphis)

Used for: Recharge zone polygon on all maps

Public domain (US Government work)Source →

Upper Claiborne Confining Unit Breaches

· CAESER (University of Memphis)

Used for: Known breach points; "nearest breach" distance calculations

Public research dataSource →

Aquifer formation extents

· USGS MERAS (Mississippi Embayment Regional Aquifer Study)

Used for: Memphis Sand, Fort Pillow, McNairy, Sparta, Cockfield extents

Public domain (US Government work)Source →

MLGW Wellfields

· Memphis Light, Gas and Water

Used for: Wellfield boundary polygons

Public utility dataSource →

Shelby County boundaries

· US Census Bureau TIGER

Used for: County outline on maps

Public domainSource →

Well monitoring data (water levels)

· USGS National Water Information System (NWIS)

Used for: Live water-level charts in Lesson 6 (Watching the Water) + 500+ monitoring wells on Explore map. Fetched via USGS OGC API + legacy waterservices.

Public domain (US Government work)Source →

Address geocoding

· OpenStreetMap / Nominatim

Used for: "Check your address" lookup

ODbL — attribution requiredSource →

Basemap tiles

· CARTO Basemaps (on OpenStreetMap data)

Used for: Light-themed background map on all map views

Free for non-commercial use, attribution requiredSource →

Downloads

The GeoJSON files used to render maps on this site are available as static assets. They are redistributed under the same license as the original source.

recharge-area.geojson — Memphis Sand recharge zone
uccu-breaches.geojson — Known UCCU breaches
aquifer-breaches.geojson — Suspected aquifer breaches
wellfields.geojson — MLGW wellfields
shelby-county.geojson — Shelby County boundary
memphis-sand-extent.geojson — Memphis Sand extent

How to cite this site

Aquifer Explorer (2026). Ledsign & Protect Our Aquifer.
https://poa.ledesign.ai. Accessed [date].
Underlying data: CAESER (University of Memphis), USGS, TDEC, MLGW.

When citing specific polygons or statistics, please cite the original source directly (linked above).

Data:CAESER (University of Memphis)·USGS·TDEC·MLGW·OpenStreetMap