Memphis Light, Gas and Water (MLGW) produces water from 10 wellfields spread throughout Shelby County. These wellfields consist of a couple to almost two dozen wells that pump approximately 150 million gallons of water per day.
The modern MLGW started in 1939, but the first Memphis utility formed in 1852 where the city's water came from rain water cisterns, shallow wells, and the Wolf River. After several Yellow Fever epidemics in the 1870s, the city of Memphis was on its last leg. But in 1887, the Bohlen-Huse Ice Company sunk a deep well near Court Avenue and Danny Thomas Boulevard and out flowed waters from the Memphis Sand Aquifer. The rest, you could say, is history.
See the links below for more information about MLGW and our drinking water source.
MLGW Water Quality Reports - Learn about the water source, process, and quality supplied to you home or business.
MLGW Aquifer Study - The $5M 5-year study completed in 2023. Get an overview of what researchers learned about the Memphis Sand Aquifer. Or go to the $5M MLGW Aquifer Study Resource Page to access all the details.
Learn "How Memphis Found Its Water" from the University of Memphis CAESER.
General Groundwater Research - This folder contain a mix and match of recent and past studies that look at the properties of our aquifers, how water flows through them, breaches (aka, windows), as well as some modeling including the Shelby County groundwater model and studies looking at well placement at different levels in the Aquifer.
Allen Wellfield - Contamination was discovered in this wellfield in the late 1980s, a little over 30 years after it began producing water throughout the Longview Heights neighborhood. The impacted wells were closed; however, the contaminants still remain. Learn more about this wellfield and possible solutions.
Davis Wellfield - This wellfield is tucked away in southwest Memphis serving the surrounding community and TVA's gas-fired power plant. Young water is found on the east and west sides of this wellfield. And where there's young water, there's a potential for contaminants to enter the Memphis aquifer. See what the research tells us.
Sheahan Wellfield - Sheahan is right next to the University of Memphis and has the most beautiful architectural design out of all of the wellfields in Shelby County. However, the Former Custom Cleaners Superfund Site is right next door to the wellfield and causing issues below our feet in the Aquifer. Read about the current research and activities at the Superfund Site.
McCord Wellfield - This wellfield settled in the Memphis/Bartlett area has some of the highest young water percentages out of all the MLGW wellfields. Find out why!
