Tenn. town has run out of water

Cybergal · Nov 1, 2007

Tenn. town has run out of water
11/1/07

ORME, Tenn. - As twilight falls over this Tennessee town, Mayor Tony Reames drives up a dusty dirt road to the community's towering water tank and begins his nightly ritual in front of a rusty metal valve. With a twist of the wrist, he releases the tank's meager water supply, and suddenly this sleepy town is alive with activity. Washing machines whir, kitchen sinks fill and showers run.
About three hours later, Reames will return and reverse the process, cutting off water to the town's 145 residents.
The severe drought tightening like a vise across the Southeast has threatened the water supply of cities large and small, sending politicians scrambling for solutions. But Orme, about 40 miles west of Chattanooga and 150 miles northwest of Atlanta, is a town where the worst-case scenario has already come to pass: The water has run out.
The mighty waterfall that fed the mountain hamlet has been reduced to a trickle, and now the creek running through the center of town is dry.
Three days a week, the volunteer fire chief hops in a 1961 fire truck at 5:30 a.m. before the school bus blocks the narrow road and drives a few miles to an Alabama fire hydrant. He meets with another truck from nearby New Hope, Ala. The two drivers make about a dozen runs back and forth, hauling about 20,000 gallons of water from the hydrant to Orme's tank.
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firstcav · Nov 1, 2007

I doubt the authenticity of this article. I've been to Tennessee several times and there is no evidence of any washing machines.

GuysLady · Nov 1, 2007

LOL! firstcav

On a more serious note, this is a very sad situation, and a very scary one. Imagine if a fire broke out there. How would they fight it? If you don't have enough to wash a load of clothes, you don't have enough to fight a fire.

PackRatTDI · Nov 1, 2007

It's interesting that where I live, which is in the middle of the desert, we have plenty of water.

MsSage · Nov 1, 2007

Droughts move in a west to east direction. Texas has come out of its drought to flooding as will the southeast in a couple years.
Yes its very scary.

Roadmedic · Nov 1, 2007

GuysLady said: ↑

LOL! firstcav

On a more serious note, this is a very sad situation, and a very scary one. Imagine if a fire broke out there. How would they fight it? If you don't have enough to wash a load of clothes, you don't have enough to fight a fire.
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The same way we fight the rural fires now. We haul the water and use mutual aid agreements with area departments. Last week we had a fire and tankers from 6 departments came to their aid. The local hydrants could not keep up.

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