Tennessee Town Has Run Out of Water

[Hissyspit]

Source: Associated Press

Tennessee Town Has Run Out of Water

By GREG BLUESTEIN
Associated Press Writer

ORME, Tenn. (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.

- snip -

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.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TOWN_WITHOUT_WATER?SITE=FLTAM&SECTION=US

[lonestarnot]

1. More to follow.

[emilyg]

2. Atlanta will next.

[Dulcinea]

26. I wouldn't be surprised.

We now have fire weather watches, it's so dry.

www.weather.com

[lligrd]

3. If We Can't Even Handle A Shortage Of Oil

what the heck will we do with a shortage of water? When will we wake up and put priorities in order?

[tom_paine]

4. What will we do in case of water shortage? The template is already here.

It is the same as the Nazis, "Blame the Jews"...except it's the Liberals this time, which is better PR, has the advantage of conveying racism in code while not being overtly racist.

It has already started.

Chatting at breakfast one morning with some typical Imperial Subjects of Amerika. The vapid conversation jumped around to various conversations which TV permitted by speaking about it first. Often by talking to typical Imperial Subjects of Amerika it is very easy to divine the Bushie Lie of the Week.

So the conversation turned to Atlanta and the water shortage. One Imperial Subject spoke for all, by repeating what she heard on Cable TV Infoganda in it's role as a large cog in the Bush Lie Machine which poroduyces the most sophisticated Gestalt-based propaganda humanity has every known.

"Yeah, it's because they are draining the lake to save those mussels."

Now, I am asuming most DUers have a little more critical thinking skills than a typical Imperial Subject of Amerika, so I will not bother to give all the reasons why that is simpleminded and just plain factually incorrect.

But as the Bushies have taught me, it matters nothing what the thinking portion of Amerika thinks or knows, so long as we can be prevented from having a microphone which will reach more than 10,000 people at once, so to speak.

It is one of psychology's greatest gift to tyrants: the principle that the larger the group of subjects, the easier their actions are to predict and then manipulate using that predictive capacity.

To being this full circle: It means that the same template is and will be used (to great success, as always) again and again until it ceases to work. And ANY disaster will trigegr the same "Blame the Jews" templat and, as always, most will pour the lies right into their brains without filtering or critically analyzing it in any way, shape or form.

Afetr all, that's what pundits are for, right? :puke:

[lligrd]

5. Which Explains Why They Aren't Worried

I guess they think we will just steal other's water too.

[n2doc]

13. That is exactly their plan

Folks up in Atlanta have been openly discussing taking a lot more water from the region's rivers. Those of us who squak about it down here on the coast will just be called "loonie liberals" and told to shut up. After all, Big Brother knows what's best, and what's best is to keep those Atlanta golf courses green no matter how much marsh dies along the coastline.

Funny thing, when you build a city away from any major water source how water becomes a problem.

[tom_paine]

23. I think they think THEY will steal OUR water and others' water.

Quite frankly, I don't think we mean much more to them than a cattle pen except where we touch or disrupt their operations of consolidation and control (the transition from Old America to the New Totalitarianism).

I am speaking Big Picture, the whole of the country, not about a small town in Tennesee, in case anyone is offended by what they think I am saying about Tennessee or Southerenerns, OK? I am tlking about all of us across the country.

[0007]

25. You talking heads. Even the word 'pundit' is taken from the Indians and is taken

from their language of the gods called "Sanskrit" - We use this term to make us look more intelligent than we are.

[rmgarrette64]

28. Look at this example

Look at the above post as an example, if you want to ensure we lose the Presidency again and stay in a permanent and dwindling minority. Deservedly so, I might add...

The sheer contempt the poster shows for our fellow citizens is both staggering and wrong. First off, it is clear and obvious. Never underestimate people. If you think they're morons, they'll pick up on it, and trust me, they won't think any higher of you for it. I'm not necessarily trying to pick on the poster, but this is an attitude I see far too frequently on these boards, and among some Democrats in person.

The second point though, is that if we hold and keep this type of attitude, we'll deserve to lose. Again, don't underestimate people. If a large number of people believe something - take it seriously. Look at it. Are there trade-offs in following an environmentalist path? Well, yes, there are. Sure, it's not as trivial as 'draining the lake caused this drought,' but I doubt the person you spoke to really believed that either. It does, however, serve as an effective shorthand, and it's something we need to think about.

Just dismissing it, and claiming that people who don't feel the same way are idiots - well, that's not the way to go.

Caution delivered,

R. Garrett

[tom_paine]

30. You make a very good point. However, what you say only holds true if the American System of Checks

and balances is still strong and healthy, with a strong, healthy, vibrant, and independent Free Press that speaks truth to power.

What you say only holds true if the Democratic Party has not (somehow, one could never guess the exact mechanism and means) somehow been neutralized into ineffectiveness such that a pResident with a 24-30% approval rating gets what he wants nearly every single time as if he had a 99% approval rating and 3/4s majorities in each House, and you know I am exaggerating only slightly for effect here and the reality is nearly that bad.

I would like to point out that both neutralizing the Democratic Party into ineffective irrelevance and ending it's potential as a true oppositional force to Bushie Schemes was the main dream of the Watergate Conspirators. This is an indisputable matter of public record, although Liddy's proposal (and we have yet to hear so very much of the Nixon Tapes, even now) which was probably one of many, involved Bushie-spy-hookers on a cruise ship of Democratic Congresscritters which would get pillow talk info that would later be used to blackmail and bully the Dems into permanent weakness...no shit, if you don't believe me Google it. Quite a coincidence that the 21st Century Democratic Leadership behaves almost as the Watergate Conspirators envisioned three decades ago. Yes, quite a coincidence.

My counterpoint to your very valid point is thay what you say is true only if this is just another iteration of American Politics, and the pendulum will swing back.

My reply: The pendulum can't swing back if the clock is broken.

You see, like a Jew in Nazi Germany in 1937, I know the Bushies will continue to go after me and mine whether I cower or stand, whether I choose to try to appease their hatred and couch my words into politically correct pretzels at a time when the obvious is now becoming painfully obvious.

They will do what they will do, NO MATTER WHAT. It is the nature of totalitarians, leaders and followers alike, and always have been ever since totalitarianism has been in existence and long before, when it's antecendents were called feudal monarchy and the like.

And if you do not know what I am talking about or know and disagree, I would ask you to please click on the youtube link in my sigline and give the conviction of your beliefs 47 minutes to hear what this very smart and respected author has to say.

So you see, I believe you are both right and wrong at the same time. And I will not shut up about what I see or how I feel. Too late in the game for that.

And maybe you are right and the American People will surprise ourselves. But we Americans have been an utter disappointment (myself included) when it came to preserving and passing on the freedoms and the great nation we were handed on a silver platter. I talk to a lot of people and I see little chance that will change. I apologize for reality's bias, to paraphrase Colbert.

This is not about disagreeing about issues, we Americans vs. Bushies and their New Totalitarianism, not any more. It is on a plane well beyond that now. As it was in 1937 Germany, it was about freedom vs. tyranny, to say the least.

Anyway, that's my two cents (maybe I should change those to Euros to preserve their value over time), feel free to call bullshit if you like.

But please do watch that 47 minute YouTube video, and test your convictions and beliefs. We must all make our own decisions.

[nick303]

33. I eagerly await the English translation of your post

[Doctor_J]

36. I regret that you were unable to comprehend Tom's lucid, HONEST post

We are so far along the path to Nazi Germany it's extremely unlikely that the train can be halted. From the White House editing the ABC News to approval of a torture fan to "Nations #1 Law enforcement Official" post to ruination of the economy and currency to non-representation of the75% of the populace that wants Bush & Cheney thrown from office. Turn off your TV and read Rise & Fall of the 3rd Reich, then try to find something to do to take back this country

[Rydz777]

6. I changed planes at the Atlanta airport last week and found that

the water had been turned off at wash basins in the mens' room - i.e. you couldn't wash your hands. Fortunately, you could still flush.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

10. so disease spreads, too. but at least you can flush.

for now.

It is nice to know that Atlanta still has great golf courses that are pure green.

[RubyDuby in GA]

20. I don't know where you guys are getting the message that Atlanta's golf courses

are watering. They are not. All public fountains, etc. are off and all counties have been put on watering restrictions.

Place the blame where it really lies. Lack of planning and rampant over development allowed by the Republicans in charge.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

21. I was there in early sept. flogging, first I heard of water issues.

the course was anything but coarse. of course my game is pretty poor.

[RubyDuby in GA]

22. Well I can assure you that since early Sept. - they have actually had to start cracking down

Even the nutjobs running the state can finally see that there might be a problem.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

24. good, and about time. I cannot imagine

the harm that a serious drought can cause. Of course, Lake Michigan supplies us here, so water's not a problem. not yet, at least.

[Dulcinea]

27. We have a winner! ding*ding*

Developers have destroyed Georgia. Gotta keep building exurban McMansions, water be damned.

[shanti]

18. that's bad for the

new staph outbreak :scared:

[Ian David]

7. Ann Coulter says it's impossible to have a shortage of something that literally falls from the sky.

[Historic NY]

9. Shortage of Republican brains...............

they don't seem to have enough matter to put on a teaspoon. My solution for them is to eat cake, that is if they can make it w/o water. The sky fell and they never noticed.

[Ian David]

14. I'm not going to play the blame game, but why didn't state and local authorities send the busses? nt

[mainegreen]

16. Except for when it doesn't fall from the sky.

That's what a drought is!

:rofl:

What a loon.

[XemaSab]

34. Out here in California

we've had more days of ash fall than rain fall this year. :P

[SalmonChantedEvening]

37. Coulter rains stupidity everywhere she goes. n/t

[underpants]

8. Tennessee town has run out of water

Source: Yahoo/AP

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.

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.

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.

The town has received a $377,590 emergency grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture that Reames hopes will be Orme's salvation. A utility crew is laying a 2 1/2-mile pipe to connect Orme to the Bridgeport, Ala., water supply. The work could be finished by Thanksgiving.

"It's not a short-term solution," Reames says. "It is THE solution."



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071102/ap_on_re_us/town_without_water

---

Tony Reames releases the water from the water tank to the 145 residents of Orme, Tenn., Wed., Oct. 31, 2007. The drought has threatened the water supply of large cities as well as small, but the water in Orme has run out. Water is trucked in from Alabama several days each week, and Reames turns it on for about three hours a day. The water filtering system is in the building at left. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)

[underpants]

11. Kick

sorry for duping it

[hadrons]

12. I wonder what all the "small gov't" types in Orme, TN are "thinking" ....

[Lisa]

29. they're probably wondering why they can't fill up their bathtubs!

(as in Grover Norquist's infamous "drown big government in the bathtub" quote ...)

[yellowcanine]

15. Three hours of running water a day? Is this Baghdad?

[annabanana]

17. It's a hard rain. . ain't gonna fall. . .

"I feel for the folks in Atlanta," he says, his gravelly voice barely rising above the sound of rushing water from the town's tank. "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."

[donsu]

19. it is a damn scary thought!

nt

[nealmhughes]

31. This is only about 50 miles due east of where I live. We are lucky to have a spring that flows a

spring that flows all year around, called a "year round spring" here in the Tennessee Valley. The drought is so bad that a guy only a few miles away had to get his well connection disconnected and attach to the county water supply (which comes from the Tennessee River's tribs, so danger of any loss here, as they are on relatively "deep water").

We are worried about our well, too. This summer the creek was so low that we didn't dare to use the well to water flowers or gardens or to wash cars, we drew water from the creek. The rain has been incredibly lacking here in the SE. Several cars that had been covered over by TVA back water back in 33 or so were found high and dry recently!

Last year there were 5 or 6 crops of hay and farmers sold their surplus west. This year they are selling their cattle west as the lucky farmers made 2 crops. The cotton is not worth picking -- barely knee high at best and not even "fair to middling," but poor grade -- but I did see the 'backy looked OK last month in Kentucky.

Normally we count on draining water away here, not trying to get it. When I lived in Nebraska a few years ago I went with a friend to his fiancee's hometown for a centennial celebration. One old farmer asked me about my accent and then "What type of irrigation do you use down there?" I just laughed and said, "Reverse. We dig ditches to drain it away from the fields!"

This isn't a "small government" problem, by any means. This is a small town who had had a major water source that suddenly went to a trickle. The neighboring state's municiple water authority is allowing them to fill the tank up which gives them the 3 hours worth a day.

When our local water autority had its sole working pump crap out last year the fire dept. came to our creek and filled up their pumpers and then transferred it to the water tank. Later a neighboring town's spring was used to do it over and over again until the pump could be repaired. They had no money to replace it until the state legislature passed an appropriation for it (no home rule in Alabama, except for a small bit in Jefferson County/Bham and Mobile). So Tenn filled in for Ala last year and now AL does for Tenn.

[Nevernose]

32. Technology/Common Sense stuff that will help in the future:

It's too late now -- that would have required people making a sacrifice, god forbid -- but in the future there are things you can do to alleviate any water shortages. I live in Vegas, and have lived in the Mojave for almost twenty years (and vacation in Arkansas or New England -- I can't make up my mind where I want to move to!).

1. Most important: RECLAMATION. Las Vegas reuses/reclaims something on the level of 99% of the water it uses. Lake Mead's running dry because more people are moving here, but we still have enough water to reasonably service the fastest growing communities in the United States, even in a DESERT during a DROUGHT that has lasted for FIFTEEN years. The water is also cleaner than most municipal water supplies in the world.

2. Watering restrictions. Year round. Your grass isn't SUPPOSED to be bright green during August. It's the SUMMER. There are also times and amounts you should water, depending upon the time of year. During the warmer months, night is better, and three 3 minute watering actually gets more water to the roots than 1 thirty minute soaking.

3. Golf course restrictions. Las Vegas is a golfer's paradise; you can golf here in world-class settings year round. They water their courses, following monitored restrictions, with GREY water. It's water that has been treated enough to water the golf courses, but not enough to be potable according to EPA standards.

4. Xeriscaping/Native landscaping: Plant with what grows in your area naturally. Unless you're Heidi, nature is not a continuous meadow. There are rocks and dirt and other non-water features that can be incorporated seamlessly and elegantly into landscaping.

5. Educate the children as to the importance of water. My kid harps on me all the time.

6. Here, restaurants only serve water if you ask, and we are constantly reminded to not wash dishes or brush our teeth, etc., with running water.

7. No-Flow urinals and Low-Flow toilets work. The new low-flows use a fraction of the water and actually perform better. The no-flow toilets I used in Arches NP not only worked, but smelled better than regular toilets. Require any home sold to be equipped with these.

8. USE COMPACT FLUORESCENTS! In your local Metro area, the power company probably uses more water than any other industry. Ironic, ain't it?

This is by far an incomplete list, and for this year is too late. However, I hope the more far-sighted residents of the SE start clamoring for these things. It would result in less carbon emission, less water pollution, and a stockpile against future crises -- after all, I've been hearing the word "drought" bandied about for 15 years now.

[XemaSab]

35. In the southeast they shouldn't have to have xeriscaping

If the drought ends the plants will drown. :(

[David Zephyr]

38. Too bad Tennessee voters turned against their own Al Gore in 2000.

2000, back when Global Warming was a fantasy of "tree huggers" and not a very popular concept in the South.

[Popol Vuh]

39. I was thinking

One of the ideas I've had concerning the increasing water shortage problem was how to desalinate coastal water WITHOUT burning more green house gas causing fuels.

So I was thinking: why not utilize the massive amounts of free energy the coastal surf expels? You could build a series of small submerged turbines fed by directing the flow of coastal waters in a submerged housing; generate electricity from it and use it to desalinate and pump the fresh water to coastal cities who in turn could discontinue using their traditional sources of fresh water, leaving it for others to use. The remaining salt could be used to reduce the amount of mined salt.

Its just an idea I thought about.






Oh, and I was wondering how many of the global warming naysayers who are running out of water still don't believe in global warming. I bet there's probably a lot....sigh.

[Robbien]

40. China is doing this I believe

Not so much the desalination using submerged turbines, but to increase energy sources they are experimenting in the harnessing of tidal power with submerged turbines.

China also has three very large desalination plants and plan on building many more.

Every developed country but the US is seriously developing alternative water and power sources.

[Popol Vuh]

41. Thank you Robbien

and why am I not surprised others in the world have looked into this idea? I would say its because others in the world don't have the oil interests we have. Oh well.....hopefully the comatose will wake up and demand change someday soon.