Protect Our Aquifer

06/10/2026

To know her (the Memphis aquifer) is to love her (the Memphis aquifer). 😊 So, here are the five terms you need to know so you can better love our aquifer.

1️⃣ Memphis Sand Aquifer: A massive underground water source spanning 7,000+ square miles across eight states, made up of layered sand and clay that store and filter water.

2️⃣ Recharge Zone: The land area where rainwater seeps into the ground to refill the aquifer, making it vital to protect it from pollution and overdevelopment.

3️⃣ Confining Layers: Dense clay layers act like a natural shield, protecting and pressurizing the aquifer’s clean water.

4️⃣ Breaches: Weak or missing spots in the protective clay that allow contamination to reach the aquifer more easily.

5️⃣ Cone of Depression: A drop in groundwater levels around a well caused by heavy pumping, which can pull nearby contaminants into the aquifer.

Send this to 3 of your friends and let them know water advocacy is your love language 💙🚰

06/09/2026

TODAY. Councilmembers Jerri Green & JB Smiley, Jr. are listening to community requests for a DIRECT response from SpaceX about why the water reuse facility was paused and for a detailed timeline for restarting & completion.

Watch the committee meeting here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=veFODcUI4u4

Come out to the City Council meeting today at 4pm to make a comment! Email [email protected] if you would like some details!

The people power & pressure is working!!

All official, complete recordings of Council meetings remain public...

06/05/2026

Water Warriors explaining why Memphians must protect our aquifer in under two minutes 🗣️🎤

Without clean drinking water and aquifer recharge zones, Memphis cannot survive. And our city's most precious resource is being threatened by heavy industry forces and local officials refusing to stand in their way.

RIGHT NOW, on our website, we have three ways you can instantly take action:

💧 Write Memphis Mayor Paul Young & County Mayor Lee Harris, demanding they hold a public meeting on xAI, and their paused water recycling facility project.
💧 Sign our petition demanding MLGW stop the steep regressive discount for industrial water users and reform rates into a fair, progressive structure in 2027.
💧 RSVP to attend the June 11th Groundwater Board Meeting.

These actions may seem small, and they are. But thousands of small actions are impossible to ignore. The best time to act is always right now.

06/03/2026

Want to keep Memphis' drinking water clean? Pull up to the next Groundwater Board meeting on June 11th! 🗣️

In last month's special session, the Shelby County Groundwater Board voted FOR identifying a consultant to draft a Groundwater Protection plan for the greater Memphis area. This is a BIG step. Now, we must maintain people pressure, encouraging this board to implement The Blue Print: a Groundwater Protection Plan powered by the people, for the people!

At its core, The Blue Print:

🔹 Strengthens community access to relevant information, synthesized in one place
🔹 Outlines the laws, threats, and solutions that should inform local protections
🔹 Aims to enhance coordination between local, state, and regional partners
🔹 Discusses sustainable funding mechanisms for long-term success
🔹 Emphasizes the need for workforce development and technical capacity
🔹 Centers community engagement and transparency in decision-making

The Blue Print is a roadmap to fully activate and sustain the protections for Shelby County that have been proven to work across the country. Memphians deserve to ensure our drinking water remains clean for generations to come.

Join us on June 11th at 1 Waterfowl Way, Memphis, TN 38120 at 10:00 AM! ✊

06/02/2026

Mayor Young and our City Council said NO to a public hearing about xAI. That's the wrong answer, and we're not taking our foot off the gas. 🏎️💨

TONIGHT, at the Whitehaven Public Library at 6 PM, we're hosting a Public Comment Training session in partnership with and ! 🗣️

Knowing HOW to effectively engage at a Public Hearing is just as important as showing up. And that's exactly what this session is all about. We'll be discussing the key questions that we need answered about xAI that YOU can give at future City Council sessions, which happen the first four Tuesdays of every month.

Until Memphians are given the transparency we deserve about xAI, there is no way to trust that there will be any follow-through on the promised environmental protections.

Join us tonight and send your one-click email TODAY via the link in our bio.

05/27/2026

POA is humbled to be honored for our advocacy 💙

Over the past two months, Protect Our Aquifer was awarded Water Conservationist of the Year, and our Executive Director, Sarah Houston, was honored with a resolution by the Shelby County Commission! 🥹🏅

Thank you to Commissioner and for supporting us. But, we wouldn't be anywhere near as powerful without YOU supporting us! 🙌 Together, we're ensuring real steps are taken to protect Memphis's #1 community asset: our Aquifer!

A special thanks to all who came out to celebrate. Let's keep the movement going, y'all!

05/22/2026

Average temps in Memphis (and beyond) are higher this year, and water conservation is a MUST for protecting Memphis' Aquifer (and your wallets) 🚰🥵

Easy ways you can save on water usage:
💧 Fix any leaky pipes (even that small drip!)
💧 Reduce how often you water your lawn
💧 Avoid dumping harsh chemicals and grease down the drain, both of which could damage piping and cause a wide range of issues.

But conserving our water should not be left up to residents!! The best way Memphians can conserve water and save on our energy bills is through equitable rates for heavy-industry users. And that's what we're demanding from MLGW!

ICYMI, MLGW charges our heaviest users (like TVA, who pumps millions of gallons per day) the lowest water rates. 🤨 Not only is this blatantly unfair to residents, but it also ENCOURAGES Memphis' largest water users to continue pumping our drinking water, rather than investing in more sustainable solutions (such as water recycling facilities).

Yes, all of us should conserve our water usage. But heavy industry users should NOT be exempt from that responsibility and should also be charged equitable rates!

Sign our petition today and demand: "No residential water rate increases unless the steep regressive discount for industrial water users is reformed into a fair, progressive structure." 💧 Keep up the pressure by clicking the link in our bio!

Stay cool out there ✌️

05/20/2026

Is xAI's Recycled Water Facility happening, or not?? 🤨 Memphians DESERVE to know!

In February 2025, the community pushed for an amended land sale agreement that includes a buyback provision. In light of the pause on building the recycled wastewater facility, we need answers on the leverage we still have ASAP.

First, what we DO KNOW about the facility:
🔹 The land is cleared
🔹 They've built the foundation
🔹 They've built two of the water storage tanks
🔹 The pipe from xAI to the facility is laid
🔹 They've received the state operating permit
🔹 The land sale agreement includes a buyback provision if the recycled water facility is not built

ALL this progress, and yet, construction has paused. Beyond a tweet from Elon Musk and a statement from SpaceX saying that construction will resume after finishing Colossus 2 (which the community has next to no info about), the community has received NO PUBLIC UPDATES regarding the reason for the pause, or a timeline for resumed construction.

Since the pause, xAI has:
🔹 Revealed they're $40 million over budget
🔹 Fired their lead water engineer for talking to the media
🔹 Fired their lead design engineer
🔹 Been acquired by SpaceX
🔹 Anthropic will be using the data center in the near future

This sounds like they're trying to cancel the project.

In response, POA and our coalition of community partners sent a signed letter calling on Memphis Mayor Paul Young & County Mayor Lee Harris to work together and host a public hearing about the water facility and water impacts from xAI. We expect officials from xAI / SpaceX, MLGW, the Groundwater Board, and the Chamber of Commerce to be in attendance and speak directly to the public.

We need YOU to join us and turn up the people pressure by emailing our Mayors and City Council members! Tap the link in bio to send your email. NOW is the time for transparency and public accountability!

05/15/2026

XAI and TVA know Memphis’ aquifer water is not endless, but they do not care.

We know protecting it is not tomorrow’s problem, even if our elected officials seem to think so. Our future depends on transparency and action!

Construction on xAI’s recycled water facility was paused last month, despite over $100 million spent on construction. Now, Anthropic will be using xAI’s Colossus 1 facility. Except for a few vague statements from Elon and xAI’s new owners, SpaceX, we are no closer to learning if and when this VITAL facility will be completed.

And it wasn’t just xAI who agreed to use this facility instead of our aquifer water. TVA and NuCor Steel ALSO agreed to use recycled wastewater. With the project paused, they also continue to use millions of gallons of our drinking water every day.

Our community letter to Mayor Young and Mayor Harris demands a public hearing AND answers on:

💧 Does the project meet contractual requirements for “substantial construction”?
💧 How much water is currently being withdrawn from the aquifer by xAI, and how will that demand grow?
💧 What impact will this pause have on promised environmental and economic benefits?
💧 What steps will the City and County take to ensure that commitments tied to public land and resources are enforced?

Until this hearing happens, there is no way to trust that there will be any follow-through on the environmental protections Memphians have long demanded and deserve.

Send your one-click email TODAY via the link in our bio. 🗣️

05/13/2026

Memphis’ Groundwater Protection plan is moving forward!! And it’s about damn time we had some good news. 🙌

Last week, the Groundwater Board had a special meeting and voted to proceed with identifying a consultant to draft the Groundwater Protection Plan. THIS. IS. HUGE.

Thank you to all the folks who came out to keep the pressure on, emphasizing to those tasked with protecting our drinking water that this plan must be powered by the people and for the people.

Check out ’ story about this plan at the link in our bio, and set your calendars for the next Groundwater Board meeting happening June 11th!🚰