Mississippi is seeking an injunction to stop the city of Memphis from pumping 60 million gallons of water per day from an aquifer. The state is also seeking is for several hundred million dollars in damages.
Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood filed a lawsuit on Feb. 2 against both the city of Memphis and its utility company, Memphis Light Gas and Waterworks (MLGW), in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi, Delta Division in Oxford. MLGW has been for many years taking massive quantities of Mississippis portion of the groundwater, says the suit. It seeks injunctive relief that would reduce MLGWs ground water consumption to approximately 140 mgd and would set the number as a ceiling. The suit sites the Mississippi River as a readily available alternative resource.