The Tennessee Valley Authority’s (TVA) plans for a new Memphis power plant faces a major hurdle, one that will get a vote by local officials here next week.
Last month, the local chapter of the Sierra Club appealed two permits issued to the TVA for wells that would swallow 3.5 million gallons of fresh water every day from the Memphis Sands Aquifer, which contains much of the area’s drinking water.
TVA was already granted permits to dig three wells into the aquifer by the Shelby County Health Department. However, blocking the other two may be enough to change TVA’s plans on tapping the aquifer at all, according to local environmental advocates.
The Sierra Club will plead its case against the wells before the Shelby County Groundwater Control Board during its meeting on Wednesday, November 30 at 9 a.m. The meeting will be held at the Office of Construction Code Enforcement at 6465 Mullins Station (at the corner of Farm and Mullins Station).
