Memphis water: pulling the plug
By Staff Reports
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Considering how much Memphis and DeSoto County depend on each other, Mississippi's lawsuit accusing Memphis of stealing its water seems counterproductive.
Without Memphis, some of Mississippi's fastest growing neighborhoods would still be rural, undeveloped and unpopulated.
Memphis provides the critical mass of consumers and capital that creates jobs throughout the area. It has the cultural amenities that anyone who dwells in a metropolis expects to enjoy.
DeSoto County gives Memphians an option, among others, for a nice place to build a new home, start a new business or find a school they like for the kids.
That's not to say there isn't a legal basis for the three-year-old lawsuit, which is reaching the trial stage next week in federal court in Oxford. It could, in fact, break new ground in the field of water litigation. There seems little doubt that wells operated by Memphis Light, Gas and Water Division have caused ground water to be pulled northward across the state line.
If Mississippi can produce evidence of harm, the state might have a case. Memphis could end up shelling out a billion dollars in damages and switching to the Mississippi River for its water source, which could entail treatment costs of $20 million annually.
No matter how the lawsuit comes out, though, it should create more awareness of the fact that water is a finite resource, even in Memphis, where it has been taken for granted for so long.
When it comes to water, this is one lucky city. As The Commercial Appeal's Tom Charlier pointed out in Sunday's editions, the city has been tapping the pure, plentiful supplies of the Memphis Sand since 1887.
The aquifer is not immune from pollution, but for generations it has given Memphians some of the best-tasting, cheapest water in the nation. It is responsible for much of the city's growth and prosperity.
While water issues are getting more and more difficult -- and litigious -- elsewhere in the Southeast, the Bluff City has been skating through the current drought with relatively little worry.
To assume the permanence of a plentiful and cheap water supply in Memphis, no matter what happens in federal court in Oxford, however, would be shortsighted and irresponsible.
Memphians, like everyone else, should become aware of how landscaping and irrigation can be adapted to a shrinking and more costly water supply.
They should invest in technological advances in their homes and businesses to reduce water consumption and be aware of how their consumption habits can affect the region in the future.
And once the dust has cleared, some thought should be given to how communities that depend on each other for so much can share their water.
Perhaps they could even get together on a plan to eliminate pollution from runoff that ends up in the streams, rivers and lakes throughout the area, even the Memphis Sand itself.
It would surely be less costly and more productive than going to court over who owns the water.
2 comments:
I think that this water issue is areally big and tough topic and will become an even more important topic in the future. I read an article in a german political newspaper which said that the next big war that our world will see will not be a fight about oil anymore – we will fight for water!!! In my view, it is so important that we as humans become aware of the fact that water is a scarce resource on our earth and that we have are not able to treat it as an infinit good anymore.
Just insanely amazing to me that anyone or anything can seek litigatory relief over someone or something else using water. If this were part of comedian Lewis Black's stand up routine, he would be red-faced and screaming "You're suing over f#@*!^g water! It's the most abundant resource of the whole g-damned planet!!" And he would be right. No one OWNS water. We don't challenge this assertion because of the rules and regulations in place. But nobody owns water.
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