Proceedings of the 2022 Mississippi Water Resources Conference

Year: 2022 Authors: Purdom K., O'Reilly A., Wren D.

The Groundwater Transfer and Injection Pilot project (GTIP) is focused on testing the effectiveness of direct injection of groundwater into the Mississippi River Valley Alluvial Aquifer (MRVAA). The project is in Shellmound, MS approximately 8 miles northwest of Greenwood, MS and west of the Tallahatchie River. The MRVAA is the primary source of irrigation water for the local farming industry, and water levels in the MRVAA have gradually declined for decades. Prior to beginning the pumping phase of the project, the monitoring wells in the surrounding area had their water levels continuously recorded for a year. The data included represents a full growing and irrigation season, as well as the off season in the winter. Having data from all seasons allowed for extensive understanding of how the local groundwater levels were impacted by irrigation, weather patterns, and Tallahatchie River stage. Groundwater levels during the summer 2020 growing season prior to injection show frequent drawdown events contributing to decreases of 1-4 ft in water level; over the following fall-spring off season water levels recovered 1-3 ft. Trends in groundwater levels prior to injection indicate that water levels near the injection site exhibit at least one month of lag time relative to the levels near the extraction site and Tallahatchie River. We will present water level trends in the GTIP project area from the year prior to the pumping phase of the project and identify important trends resulting from climate and farming practices.