Sometime in the next few months, lawyers for the state of Mississippi will stand before a U.S. Supreme Court-appointed legal expert, clear their throats, and argue that Tennessee, a neighbor, is stealing water.
However it is decided, the courtroom tussle breaks new legal ground and more. It is the first time the Supreme Court has considered a lawsuit that involves the use and distribution of groundwater reserves that lie beneath multiple state boundaries. Dozens of major aquifers cross state borders. None, though, is subjected to the well-established legal instruments for allocating water that rivers are.
The discord between two southern states also illustrates how in an era of droughts, storms, and other hydrological disturbances risks to stable water supplies have steadily risen as prominent health and economic priorities in the United States. Law experts say that the case foreshadows a new field of play for water rights in the United States.
These circumstances expose a mismatch between the way water behaves and the policies that govern it. Mississippi and Tennessee share an aquifer — water-use decisions on one side of the political border affect water availability on the other — but they do not share a system of management and oversight.
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I am Jeff Clark, founder of Internet Brothers, producer of this blog, and passionate about hiking. I live in Western NC near the Blue Ridge and Great Smoky Mountains. Pisgah and Nantahala National Forests are just out my door, so the content will focus on these areas, but let me know what you would like to see on the site. 
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