Sod-Farm Irrigation in Mississippi Could Become Stormy Topic

Water is a valuable renewable resource, so whether local ground water should be used to irrigate a very large sod farm in Picayune, Miss. during the dry season could be a hot topic.

The sod farm is located north of the Whitesands community in Pearl River County and contains about 400 acres. Its owners are considering doubling its size, said Jaime Crawford, assistant director for the Office of Land and Water Resources at the Mississippi DEQ.

A legal ad alerts residents of the county of the intention of Edgewater Holdings LLC to install four new wells in the area of the sod farm and to permit one existing well, which would give it a total of six wells, Crawford said.

Water usage at the sod farm will be monitored and limited to 326,000 gallons a year, and only two wells will be allowed to run at the same time, Crawford said. Levels of water in the wells also will be monitored.