Water Runs Out In Tenn. Town

Drought forces Orme to borrow from nearby town's hydrant
By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 2, 2007 7:07 PM CDT
Water Runs Out In Tenn. Town
Debbie Cash fills a plastic bottle with water for later use in her home in 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 it is turned on for...   (Associated Press)

If the Southeast drought’s effects on Orme, Tenn., are a sign of things to come, folks in Atlanta should start scheduling their showers. The rural home to 145 people has run completely dry, and what water gets trucked in can be used only between 6 and 9 pm. This means citizens have to rush to get supper made, clothes washed, and baths drawn, the AP reports.

Since the town's creek evaporated in August, the mayor has spent $8,000 of Orme's $13,000 annual budget to haul in water three times weekly. The feds have awarded a grant to build a 2½-mile pipe to the water supply in Bridgeport, Ala. "I can't tell you how many times I've turned on the faucet before remembering the water's been cut," said one resident. (More drought stories.)

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