Judge: Mississippi does not own disputed water

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A specially appointed judge is siding with Tennessee in a more than decade-long legal dispute with Mississippi over the right to ground water.

The Clarion Ledger reports that Special Master Eugene Siler Jr. said he will recommend the U.S. Supreme Court find that Mississippi doesn’t own the disputed water, but that it is an interstate resource.

Mississippi claims Tennessee is unlawfully pumping water from the Mississippi portion of an aquifer for use by Memphis residents.

Tennessee and Memphis argue that the water does not solely belong to Mississippi. Siler’s ruling on Thursday now goes to the U.S. Supreme Court for a decision.