Water Runs Dry in Orme, Tennessee as Drought Worsens

Sunday, April 13, 2008 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: water shortage, health news, Natural News

(NaturalNews) A small town in southeast Tennessee has actually run out of water, and must truck in water from a nearby town three days a week to sustain its already highly restricted water usage.

Orme is located 40 miles west of Chattanooga, 150 miles northwest of Atlanta, and a few miles north of the Alabama border. In the old days of this former mining town, a massive waterfall fed the town's water use and a creek ran through its center. Now the creek has gone totally dry and only a trickle runs down the falls.

Water use has been restricted in Orme for years. In August, however, Mayor Tony Reames made the decision to further restrict use to three hours a day.

All of Orme's water comes from a single water tank, which is turned on or off at a single valve. At 6 p.m. every night, Reames turns the water on manually, then turns it off again at nine. In those three hours, residents must cram in a days' worth of water use.

"You have to be in a rush," said Cheryl Evans, a 55-year-old lifelong resident. "At 6 p.m., I start my supper, turn on my washer, fill all my water jugs, take my shower."

"You never get used to it," she said. "When you're used to having water and you ain't got it, it's strange. I can't tell you how many times I've turned on the faucet before remembering the water's been cut."

Three days a week, the volunteer fire chief drives to a fire hydrant in Alabama. There he and a fireman from New Hope, Ala. fill up their trucks and make about a dozen runs back and forth between the hydrant and Orme, filling the town's tank with approximately 20,000 gallons.

Reames said that Orme's plight highlights the importance of water conservation.

"I feel for the folks in Atlanta," Reames said. "We can survive. We're 145 people. You've got 4.5 million people down there. What are they going to do? It's a scary thought."