The Yazoo Mississippi Delta Joint Water Management District (YMD) was formed in 1989 as a direct result of the 1988 drought. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality issued orders to landowners to stop irrigation withdrawals from Delta streams during the 1988 drought. The drought had dropped stream flows to the minimum allowed by law and at that point all withdrawals for beneficial use must stop. Delta leadership realized that a strictly regulatory approach to managing the Delta’s water resources was undesirable. YMD was created to provide local, non-regulatory solutions to the Delta’s growing water resource challenges.
For more information, visit www.ymd.org.