Did Anyone Know This Happened?

[Homicidalheathen]

And they have rivers and stuff, I should know I was there. To see waterfalls.

Maybe this IS why we have brown snow now.

Drought leaves Tenn. town dry

Rain brought some relief this week to the Tennessee Valley but a serious drought persisted throughout most of the Southeast United States.

The National Weather Service said the exceptional drought area extended from Alabama and northern Georgia into eastern Tennessee and the western Carolinas. While Tropical Storm Noel dropped over an inch of rain along the east coast of the Florida Peninsula, the rains had little impact on the levels of Lake Okeechobee.

The severe dryness has left Orme, Tenn., with only enough water to last residents three hours each day, CNN said Thursday.

The mountain spring that usually supplies water dried up Aug. 1, leaving the town's 145 residents to rely on water brought in from Alabama. The taps run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. each day.

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ORME, Tenn. Nov 2, 2007 (AP)

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.

"I'm not God. I can't make it rain. But I'll get you the water I can get you," Reames tells residents.

Between 6 and 9 every evening, the town scurries. Residents rush home from their jobs at the carpet factories outside town to turn on washing machines. Mothers start cooking supper. Fathers fill up water jugs. Kids line up to take showers.

"You never get used to it," says Cheryl Evans, a 55-year-old who has lived in town all her life. "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."

"You have to be in a rush," she says. "At 6 p.m., I start my supper, turn on my washer, fill all my water jugs, take my shower."

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

um, yeah... It's been all over the news for months.

[Winter Steele]

Tennessee has had this drought for awhile in the papers and CNN. I HAVE A FRIEND THAT LIVES THERE AS WELL she is totally frustrated about it.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

It's not just Tenn. it's all of the South east.

[Brenda Starrr]

I don't even watch the news and I know about this.

[Fierce Critter]

I've been out of the loop lately. I barely know what the day's weather is anymore.

I did not know about this.

[ttogreh]

Part of the problem is growth. Part of the solution is growth. Tennessee's population in 1990 was 4,880,000. In 2006 it was 6,040,000. That is an increase of 23 percent, or 1.4 per cent a year in 16 years.

Now, the Tennessee Valley Authority is a seventy year old public corporation. It should have been more proactive. However, it is a region wide problem, water supply, so the TVA is not wholly responsible for this fiasco.

Just as a point of comparison, Michigan had a population of 9,295,000 in 1990, and 10,095,000 in 2006, which is an increase of about 8.6 percent in sixteen years, or .53 per cent a year. We also happen to be SURROUNDED BY FRESHWATER SEAS.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

"more proactive"

They have had 2 years of almost no rain. Without rain, the water drys up. This is affecting 6 states... but some how, you blame population... even though this is happenig is some ares with little to no population.

BTW - this happens to these same states every 40 or 50 years.

If there is nothing to replenish your water supply, it drys up eventually.

Michigan is also not in a drought.

[ttogreh]

Exactly! It happened fifty years ago. That means it is going to happen again. I said part of the problem is growth. Less people equals less water usage. More people equals more taxes and economic growth to pay for drought abatement and preparation.

Look at the whole picture, Gaf. Don't fall into the trap of "oh, ttogreh said it, there must be something wrong with it, since I disagree with him on X".

[Fierce Critter]

I am already grieving what will become of our Great Lakes in the probably-not-so-distant-future as more and more states stick their bendy straws in to suck out our fresh water.

I've been up to my beloved Lake Michigan shore when water levels are low. And it has brought me to tears. I don't want that happening to support other states.

I'm selfish that way.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

You will never convince me that more government, more taxes and more regulation will some how magically make mother nature our slave.

Droughts happen. We can't change that.

[ttogreh]

No, we can't make mother nature our slave. However, we can understand mother nature a little bit better, and we can see droughts coming, before they are here. We can also build cisterns, desalination plants, and reasonable water distribution systems and agreements that won't drain the Great Lakes for the thirst of the south and southwest.

Indeed, Gaf, did you know that 700,000 cubic feet of water PER SECOND is discharged into the Gulf of Mexico by the Mississippi... every second? That water does not mix with the salt water of the gulf immediately, you know. A desalination plant near the mouth of the Mississippi would have to work less and would produce more water for the entire region than a Desalination plant on the coast of Georgia.

Droughts happen. That does not mean we can't survive them, or even thrive during them.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

OK

So you exactly when did we start having anywhere near accurate predictions of rain fall?

Also, you need Rain for a cistern to be anything other than a whole in the ground.

Desalination plants work well in coastal areas.. not inland. And thats only if you don't look at the huge ecological impact they have.

Which brings up my last point... you want to fuck with the extremely complex and fragile ecosystem around the Mississippi delta? Are you fucking nuts? Exactly when has man kind ever touched an ecosystem that big and not fucked it up?

Yes, we can survive them. We don't have to destroy the eco-system to do it. Intelligent water conservation (translates to education) is what is needed... not over reaching government control and eco-system devistating over reactions.

[Winter Steele]

OK

So you exactly when did we start having anywhere near accurate predictions of rain fall?

Also, you need Rain for a cistern to be anything other than a whole in the ground.

Desalination plants work well in coastal areas.. not inland. And thats only if you don't look at the huge ecological impact they have.

Which brings up my last point... you want to fuck with the extremely complex and fragile ecosystem around the Mississippi delta? Are you fucking nuts? Exactly when has man kind ever touched an ecosystem that big and not fucked it up?

Yes, we can survive them. We don't have to destroy the eco-system to do it. Intelligent water conservation (translates to education) is what is needed... not over reaching government control and eco-system devistating over reactions.

I totally agree with You. We can see rain patterns, but no one can predict weather much less rainfall over all. Education is the key and conservation such as buckets to catch rain fall, don't let water run the whole time to wash hands, or brush your teeth and recycle water when necessary or applicable. Our eco-system is very delicate as well and if one living thing or plant dies because of mankind's fuck up we could be screwed in the process.

[ttogreh]

Of course, both of you seem to be ignoring the fact that the Mississippi river delta has been fatally compromised for the last hundred years or so, ALREADY. The wetlands of Louisiana rely on the silt that used to come from the river, which is now not coming.

Louisiana is quite literally sinking back into the sea. It will cost trillions of dollars to restore the ecosystem, but at the same time, people are smart enough to utilize the fresh water from the Mississippi to supply the entire south and southwest.

Currently, the ecosystem is compromised, and cities are starving for water. Both problems CAN be fixed.

[Gaf The Horse With Tears]

Some examples of intelligent water-conservation:

In Australia, where drought is almost a constant companion, they have started using two stage toilets. Each toilet has two buttons to flush it. Button 1 does a half flush for when there are no solids. Button 2 does a full flush... you get the picture.

Grey water reclamation. Showers and sinks drain into a holding tank rather than a sewer system. The water is filterd and used to flush toilets, water the lawn, irrigate gardens and others tasks that don't need perfectly clean water.