Tennessee City Runs out of Water

[Scott Shaw]

Most all TAG cavers are familiar with Orme, TN. Seems the severe drought has them in a bind.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071101/ap_ ... mZdogDW7oF

[batrotter]

This is bad. Water is one of things that most peole take for granted. Look out for future water wars!

[graveleye]

well there won't be a water war between Tennessee and Georgia. The Tn Governor made a law a few years back that Georgia couldn't have any water from Tennessee reservoirs. Problem solved there.

Georgia is in a fix though, particularly Atlanta. It's not from Atlanta being wasteful as has been suggested. It's just there are a LOT of people here. As well the Corps of Engineers has been letting more water flow down the river from Lanier than would be flowing had there not been any dams on the river at all, given the drought situation. As of yesterday, the Corp has agreed to stop the full-flow release of the water from Lanier, and scale it back to a more natural flow. Of course, this is going to get Alabama and Florida in a tizzy.

It's Alabama and Florida that have a beef with Georgia. Most of us are doing our part here with the total ban on outdoor water use. I know my habits have changed for certain. "If its yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down" is kind of gross, but you get used to it. I finally broke down after 9 months of not washing my truck, I took it to a car wash that recycles their water. My rock-tumbling hobby has become a pain too. Usually I just get out in the driveway with a hose to rinse them off, and since I can't use water outside, I've resorted to a bucket. I now see that before I was probably using 10+ gallons of water per rinse, and now it's down to about 3 gallons. (you can't do this in the sink or the polishing compounds will turn into cement in your drain-pipes)

I don't know what to do with my cave gear.. my new pads are crusted and dry - I'm just not allowed to rinse them off in the driveway. I certainly don't want to wash a bunch of cave mud down the drain either. I don;t know what we're going to do with our clothes next time we come home from a really muddy cave trip. I guess I'll have to break the law and hose them off, and I'll feel guilty and paranoid the whole time. What else can I do?

My yard has been brown and crispy for a while, but I don't like to mow anyway, so that's no big loss to me.

Now from what I understand from what I hear on the news, is that Alabama doesn't have any water restrictions at least on a statewide level. This has to change. It's a valid argument that there just aren't as many people living in Alabama - less people using water. True enough, but if we're all in this together (which we are, because of the watershed) everyone needs to conserve no matter how large the town.

I hate to be a snitch, but I turned in a nearby apartment complex because they had a car-washing station that the tenants there were washing their cars night and day. It really got me hacked off that we're over here doing our part to conserve, and they're just running that hose day and night. Yup, I turned them in and they shut it down. Good.

Sorry to ramble, but other Georgians can testify with me that this is a situation that you can't turn around without running into it. It's on the news every hour, and just has become the biggest news story in the state now - thankfully too as I think folks were sick of hearing about Michael Vick.

We need the rain, and eventually we'll get it and it won't take long before we're complaining about it raining all the time. But for now, it's pretty scary.

It's interesting though, that the indigenous plants and trees have not suffered visibly. There has been just enough rain to keep them watered. Grass and sod hasn't fared well though, but they're not exactly natural. Maybe one day my dream will come true, and manicured lawns will become a thing of the past!

[Cody JW]

I would like to know from any TAG cavers how this drought has affected the water flow in pits that are normally wet.I plan to come to TAG this thanksgiving ( if gas is not 5 bucks a gallon by then) and do Thunder Hole and some other normally wet ones.I know this situation is bad for local people but can be great for cavers.If anyone has any input let me know.

[Mike Cato]

OK, graveyeye, as an Alabama resident although not in the affected watershed, I'll bite.

I'm pretty sure that there are still waaaay more "upscale" wasteful water users in the megapolitan Atlantaland area than there are in all of Alabama. And for sure waaay more than in the southern half of the state which is in those watersheds.

Also, cutting back the flow out of Lake Lanier increases the effluent concentration in the water that ultimately reaches Alabama.

Have a heart, I doubt they really like drinking y'all's pee.

[Andy Shoun]

I was in Anderson Spring during the Cave In and the water level was far below anything I'd ever seen. We've had some rain since then, but not enough to make a difference.

[graveleye]

Mike, you Alabamians really need to start treating your water. No one drinks out of the creek anymore!

Atlanta drinks the pee of all of Hall county, Gainesville and Gwinnett county (heavily populated). It goes downstream man...

Since the Hooch runs down the Ga/Al border, I really do wonder exactly how much it is affecting Alabama. If the hooch continued on into central Al, I could see how it would affect Al's population centers more severely.

Here is an interesting map - note how narrow and small the Chattahoochee River basin is. It's just not a very good place for a city, but too late for that now.

http://coastgis.marsci.uga.edu/summit/basinsmap.htm

I'm sorry for the threadjack. This was really about that little town in Tn, but this drought is of concern for us all.

PS - Mike, we have neighbors turning in neighbors here. I live in a pretty nice neighborhood, and I assure you, no one is watering their lawns. In some areas here they will turn your water OFF on the first offense!! Then you get a $1000 fine. No one is playing games anymore.

[Teresa]

This is bad. Water is one of things that most peole take for granted. Look out for future water wars!

Future? Missouri has been fighting the Dakotas (and Canada, BTW) over the Missouri River for twenty five years-- (actually, all the way back to the Pick-Sloan Act in the late 1940s-early 1950s). Same thing: Upstream states want to keep water in reservoirs high for local use, irrigation and recreation; states downstream want to drink it, use it for factories and float barges on it. And throw in a couple endangered species, and some riverbottom farmers and urban developers for good measure, the Army Corps of Engineers, Congress, water activists and Indian tribal water rights and you've got a mell of a hess. Add to that the fact that Montana and the Dakotas have real proscriptive 'water rights' law, and the lower states are under riparian law-- ever try to mediate a situation where two different KINDS of laws (like monarchy and elected democracy) govern the same water?

You can spend a lifetime and a career trying to sort out Missouri River issues. I know people who have. And that's only one river.

Hope you guys get some rain soon.

[cavedoc]

This is bad. Water is one of things that most peole take for granted. Look out for future water wars!

Future? Missouri has been fighting the Dakotas (and Canada, BTW) over the Missouri River for twenty five years--

In the West we say that "Whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over." Most of the current fights are fish versus farmers. If this water year is short the cities will be joining in. I hope eveyone gets a good rain soon.

[mae]

Graveleye, to address your cave gear washing problem, I almost never wash my gear. I hang it up in my spare bathroom in the tub and let it dry out. I knock off all the dried mud with a stiff brush and then throw the gear in my box. Then I sweep up all the dried mud out of my tub and throw in the waste basket or in a houseplant. If I had a yard, I would put it out there.

I did have a rant about Atlanta's water problem, but I deleted it. I'll just say that Atlanta could have and should have been doing a lot more than it has been concerning water conservation. AL, GA, and FL have been fighting over water for over 30 years. This isn't a problem that just sneaked up on them.

[wendy]

Graveleye, just take your cave clothes down to a creek or river and wash them off. I've done that after muddy cave trips, just jump in the water with my cave clothes on and wash up.

[batrotter]

This is bad. Water is one of things that most peole take for granted. Look out for future water wars!

Future? Missouri has been fighting the Dakotas (and Canada, BTW) over the Missouri River for twenty five years-- (actually, all the way back to the Pick-Sloan Act in the late 1940s-early 1950s).

I stand corrected, as usual.