Small Tennessee town out water - how do they cope?
A popular story making the rounds today is about Orme, Tennessee, a town that has run out of water. They’re normally fed by a waterfall, but that waterfall has been “reduced to a trickle”. Now the mayor of the town spends three days each week driving a truck back and forth to an Alabama fire hydrant, bringing in about 20,000 gallons a day.
He then turns the water on for three hours each evening, and the town has a mad rush of clothes washing, cooking and showering.
It’s the first case of a true answer to “What happens if the water runs out?“. Of course, it really doesn’t say much about what would happen in Atlanta. As Orme mayor Tony Reames said “I feel for the folks in Atlanta. 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.”
Trucking in water won’t be feasible for us, though the “3-hours-per-night” rationing could be something that might get implemented if things get dire enough. Only time will tell.
Update: View Orme in Google Earth at this site.
