Canary in the coal mine
ORME, Tennessee (CNN) -- The drought in the Southeastern United States means more than just brown lawns to the folks in Orme, Tennessee. Water flows from their taps for just three hours each evening. The mountain spring that supplies water to the town usually dries up at the end of summer, but just for a few days. This year it dried up early, on August 1, and hasn't revived, leaving the town's 145 residents high and dry and relying on water trucked in from the next state.
Every day at 6 p.m., Orme Mayor Tony Reames turns a big valve to release water from the town's tank. When he turns the crank again at 9 p.m., taps in the town run dry.
"When they cut it back on we jump for joy," Orme resident Debbie Cash said. "And then you only have it for three hours." Three hours to do all the laundry, bathing, dishwashing and animal watering that has to be done.
Volunteers take turns three days a week driving a tanker truck or Orme's diesel-belching 1961 fire truck to a hydrant near Bridgeport, Alabama, 2¨ö miles down the road. Making several round trips, they haul about 25,000 gallons of water back to Orme each day.
Bridgeport, which gets its water from the Tennessee River, doesn't charge its neighbor. Stevenson and New Hope, Alabama, also help out, occasionally bringing trucks full of water to the hydrant, where it's transferred to the Orme trucks. See where Orme has to go for water ?
But things are looking up in Orme. A pipeline from Bridgeport is nearly complete, built with the help of a $378,000 grant from the federal government.
"With this new water coming in, then we'll have it made," Cash said. "Now we won't have to worry about it no more."
Ha! Your typical Almavoric near-sightedness. Sure, they're fine (until there is no OTHER STATE to truck in water). Think about it. This is a crystal ball, folks. Our future is here. Look at these hot spots not as "Oh, those poor people OVER THERE somewhere." The effects of the Almavore are spreading, like wildfire. |
