From Sky to Faucet

The water that comes from your tap could very well be a raindrop that is at least 2,000 years old. Talk about recycling!

Raindrops slowly filter through layers of sand and gravel over hundreds of years and are then held under pressure by 350 feet of nearly impermeable clay in reservoirs called aquifers. When the water finds a hole, it defies gravity and goes up instead of down, creating an artesian well. Shelby County is located over four natural aquifers, one of which is best known as the Memphis Sand Aquifer.

When 500 foot wells are drilled here, pressure forces the water to rise to a point near the surface, thereby allowing Memphis to tout itself as the largest city in the world with artesian wells as its solitary water source. The Memphis Sand Aquifer is estimated to contain more than 100 trillion gallons of water. Since the tapping of the well in 1887, the aquifer has only descended 125 feet, suggesting a reliable water source in Memphis for years to come.

MLGW operates 10 water pumping stations that electrically pump water to the surface. Each pumping station generates a maximum of 35 million gallons a day—an ample supply for MLGW’s 250,000+ customers.