Group working to create groundwater protection plan
Protect Our Aquifer is developing a groundwater protection plan for Memphis-area residents amid concerns about data center water consumption and the Memphis Sand Aquifer. The Memphis City Council is scheduled to vote on a proposed 12-month moratorium on new data centers.
Protect Our Aquifer is seeking input from residents in several Memphis neighborhoods as it develops what it describes as the region’s first groundwater protection plan. The group says stronger safeguards, transparency and long-term water management are needed as data centers expand in the Mid-South and residents question their effects on the Memphis Sand Aquifer.
Save Our Aquifer Executive Director Sarah Houston said data centers associated with SpaceXAI are contracted to use up to 1.28 million gallons of water per day from Memphis Light, Gas and Water, while a water recycling plant permit reportedly projected demand of 5 million gallons per day. The Memphis City Council was scheduled to take a final vote on a proposed 12-month moratorium on new data centers, with the outcome pending at the time of publication.