Wanted: Water

[L Roebuck]

Wanted: Water
By Pam Sohn
Chattanooga Times Free Press

Staff Photo by Meghan Brown
Larry Fulfer fills an estimated 250-gallon container with water from the Sequatchie Cave State Natural Area in Sequatchie, Tenn., on Wednesday. The Sequatchie, Tenn., resident is not served by the local water utility and does not have a well, so he pumps water from the cave several times a week to provide for his household.

In the tiny community of Sequatchie in Marion County, Tenn., about a dozen families on Dancing Fern Mountain say hauling water from a cave spring about two miles away has become a way of life.

"Most of our wells have dried up or they're sulfur water," said Lea Layne as her husband recently filled a tank in the bed of his pickup.

About 30 miles north atop the Cumberland Plateau, Monteagle's dried-up reservoir has forced J.D. Oliver, owner of the Smokehouse Restaurant, to spend money on outsourcing laundry and on buying paper plates, plastic cups and bottled water. Mr. Oliver fears job cuts may be next.

"We have 70 employees," he said. "They depend on us."

A sign at an Interstate 24 rest area near Mr. Oliver's landmark eatery reads: "No water."

Twenty miles to the southwest in Orme, Tenn., at the base of the Cumberland Plateau, the town's spring dried up in August, leaving 135 residents with dry faucets, Mayor Tony Reames said.

Full Article

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TENNESSEE TOWN RATIONS WATER: Where the well has already run dry

By Drew Jubera
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Orme, Tenn. —- The drought has transformed life in little Orme; the water is trucked in and the taps only work for a few hours every evening.

[Azurerana]

OK-- Here's a challenge

Figure out how much water you use per day.

It's pretty easy. 1) Look at the meter reading on your water bill.
2) Divide by # of persons in the household.

It helps if you have a number of bills. Unless you are a math freak, take at least 6 bills, throw out the two highest and two lowest, and average the two remaining.

All this talk about how much water a person uses led me to calculate, and find out we use 45 gallons per person per day around here. National average is about 100-150 gal/day. This includes washing, toilet flushing, cooking, and outside. (I water tomatoes during the heat of the summer, but not the lawn or flowers.)

So: figure out how much you use. It might be a pleasant surprise!

[L Roebuck]

Ho-hum, I can't take the challenge because we have well water but I can tell you that due to the drought we have been on home water conservation measures since early summer. No car washing, no watering of grass, etc, etc. Last I heard from neighbors 7 wells have 'gone dry' in our area.

This photo of a water flow gage was taken in June 2007 at one of the cave springs that Jack Daniels uses.

Reference:
Drought slows Jack Daniels Distillery Cave Spring

[Azurerana]

Got any water down there yet?

[L Roebuck]

azurerana said:

Got any water down there yet?

We've not had enough rain here this year to make a difference.

[Azurerana]

well, I knew that already-- I was just wondering about lately-- say last month or so.

Trying to be nice and check on you guys!

Az

[Brian Roebuck]

It rained a couple of times in the last few months. Some areas still have grass etc but some don't. There is a chance of rain for the next few days though!

I wonder if it will continue into winter. Usually we get too much rain then!

[L Roebuck]

azurerana said:

well, I knew that already-- I was just wondering about lately-- say last month or so.

Trying to be nice and check on you guys!

Az

Thanks for checking Az! It is appreciated!!
No, when the storms roll in we seem to just be getting the thrills -- the dark clouds, the thunder, and the lightning...

[Sharon Faulkner]

Sounds as if folks in southern Tennessee are having a pretty rough time of it.

Here in North Alabama we've been on level two water restrictions for the last couple of months. Which is not as dire as it sounds really. Means we can only use outside water (for yard, plants, cars, etc) on certain days based on the last digit of our house numbers. If we do not start receiving significant rain soon, I expect we will proceed to level three restrictions by December, which would include cutting water use by 10% per household and prohibit all outside water usage.

I knew the water levels were extremely low around here. Several of us went to Hering Cave in late September and more than half of this normally wet suit cave (chest deep water) was like a dry sandy beach.

[L Roebuck]

Yippie!!! We are getting some RAIN!

[Andy]

It looks like I use about 52 gallons of water per day. This is based on my consumption history for the last 12 months. Our water company, the county, has a web site where I can view my water consumption history for the last three years. They measure water in cubic feet. One cubic foot of water is 7.4805 gallons. I pay more to have that water go down the drain than I do for the water. Our sewer charge is 66% more than our water charge.

I never would have guessed I used that much water per day. I spend a lot of weekends out of town caving, camping and hiking. I guess that means I use more than 52 gallons per day when I am home. I better start taking shorter showers!

[Brian Roebuck]

We've been trying to cut back on water usage here sue to having a well. So far it has not given problems but that could change at any time. I don't know how much water we use per day but I imagine it is more than I think it would be. It's a hard thing to measure by observation only. The rain came and went tonight. Some is far better than none!

[Brad Tipton]

Holy mother we got some rain tonight!! Flash floods all over Chattanooga. Tornado touched down in Kimball, destroyed a church. Probably won't rain again for another month

[L Roebuck]

A "Miracle" happened -- we got RAIN and lots of it!!! ! ;D ;D


The Independent has an interesting article. "Warning" the article does mention " a beaver " .

The big thirst: The great American water crisis

The US drought is now so acute that, in some southern communities, the water supply is cut off for 21 hours a day. Leonard Doyle reports from Chattanooga, Tennessee, on a once-lush region where the American dream has been reduced to a single four-letter word: rain