By Candice Ludlow
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkno/local-wkno-673169.mp3
Oxford, MS – Whose water is it, anyway? Seems to be at crux of the water dispute between the state Mississippi and MLGW and the City of Memphis. A federal district judge dismissed the water lawsuit against MLGW and Memphis today, saying that it's an issue between states.
At issue is the crystal clear water that Memphians have relished since 1880. Memphis pulls its water from the Mississippi Embayment, an underground system of aquifers that stretch from Illinois to the Gulf of Mexico.
Mississippi filed suit against Memphis and Memphis Gas Light and Water in 2005. The case finally made it to federal court yesterday in Oxford, Mississippi.
Judge Glen Davidson dismissed the case against the City of Memphis and MLGW because he said that the Sparta Aquifer that serves Memphis, as well as Shelby and DeSoto counties crosses state lines, so Tennessee must included. Now, it's a case about apportionment of interstate groundwater - which makes it a case for the U.S. Supreme Court.