Before we build again

We need more schools. But not on hollow ground.

Test the ground first.

We're not against new schools — we want them built right. In karst country, groundwater doesn't sit in solid rock. It runs through a network of underground veins — fractures and solution channels — that feed a water-filled cavern. Watch what happens when that water is drawn down.

What you're seeing

  1. The feeder veins narrow as the pressure that drives them drops.
  2. They dry from the top down as the level falls.
  3. Flow can reverse — pathways that fed the aquifer start draining it.
  4. The conduits go dry and the source stops delivering water.
  5. A hollow cave is left behind — and in karst, it may never refill.

Why this ground is different

Much of Rutherford County and the Middle Tennessee Central Basin is mapped as karst — limestone riddled with caves, voids, and water-bearing fractures (USGS). Water can travel through it for miles, and what looks like solid ground can be hollow below.

This is not normal ground. It cannot be treated like ordinary bedrock — which is exactly why it must be tested before anything is built on it.

What testing prevents

A proper geological and hydrogeological survey before construction can find the voids, fractures, and water pathways that aren't visible from the surface. Testing first protects the community's water, nearby homes, and the schools our children sit in — and it costs a fraction of repairing what testing would have caught.

Want the detail? Two sourced, plain-language explainers go deeper: How Karst Works (the geology) and Failing to Plan Is Planning to Fail (what skipping the test costs, with documented cases).

Make it the standard

Before the borehole, inspect the ground.

Ask that a full geological survey be required for any school site planned for geothermal HVAC — before it's approved. The next public meetings — and how to speak up — are listed on our home page:

See the next public meetings & how to weigh in →

The science & sources