[getsmart-l] The mighty waterfall that fed the mountain hamlet has been reduced to a trickle,

[John O'Gorman]

Oh, don't worry, we have LOTS of water - don't we??

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071102.wwater02/BNStory/Front/
Taps running dry
Severe drought across the southeastern U.S. is causing one hamlet to limit water use to three hours a day 
GREG BLUESTEIN 

Associated Press/Globe and Mail

November 2, 2007 at 5:16 AM EDT

ORME, TENN. — 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 meagre water supply, and suddenly this sleepy town is alive with activity. Washing machines whir, kitchen sinks fill and showers run.

About three hours later, Mr. 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 65 kilometres west of Chattanooga and 240 kilometres northwest of Atlanta, is a town where the worst-case scenario has already come to pass: The water has run out.

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The mighty waterfall that fed the mountain hamlet has been reduced to a trickle, and now the creek running through the centre of town is dry.

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 kilometres 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.

"I'm not God. I can't make it rain. But I'll get you the water I can get you," Mr. Reames tells residents.

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.

"You never get used to it," says Cheryl Evans, a 55-year-old who has lived in town all her life. "When you're used to having water and you ain't got it, it's strange. I can't tell you how many times I've turned on the faucet before remembering the water's been cut.

"You have to be in a rush. At 6 p.m., I start my supper, turn on my washer, fill all my water jugs, take my shower," she says.

During its peak in the 1930s, Orme boasted a population of thousands, a jail, three schools and a hotel. But those boom times are long gone.

After coal miners went on strike in the 1940s, the company shut down the mine and the town has never been the same. Not a single business is left in Orme. The only reminder of the town's glory days is an aging wooden rail depot that sits a metre above the eerily quiet streets.

Although changes are coming - cable TV arrived just a few years ago - cellphones still don't work here. The main road into town is barely wide enough for two cars. 

Dogs wander the streets, farm animals can be heard all around town, and children gather outside the one-room City Hall to ride their bikes.

"It's like walking back in time. It's Never Never Land here," says Ernie Dawson, a 47-year-old gospel singer who grew up in Orme.

Water restrictions in the town are nothing new. But residents say it's never been this bad.

Even last summer, as the water supply dwindled, city leaders cut off water only at night. But in August, Mr. Reames took the most extreme step yet and restricted use to three hours a day.

Elected in December, he has now spent $8,000 of the city's $13,000 annual budget to deal with the crisis. Most of the money went toward trucking water from Alabama.

He has tried to fill the gaps with modest fundraisers, but it hasn't been easy. A Halloween carnival last week cleared about $375 and a dog show two weeks ago made $300.

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

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

He says the crisis in Orme could serve as a warning to other communities to conserve water before it's too late.

"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."

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071101.wfreshfish1101/BNStory/Front/

European freshwater fish in danger
The Associated Press

November 1, 2007 at 1:22 PM EDT

GLAND, Switzerland — More than one in three of Europe's freshwater fish species faces extinction because ecosystems are being destroyed, the World Conservation Union said Thursday.

Scientists from Switzerland and Germany have found that 200 of the 522 species of European freshwater fish are threatened by the rapid development of agriculture and industry over the past 100 years, the group said.

The union, a network of nations, agencies and some 10,000 scientists and experts from 181 countries, said 12 species are already extinct.

Species at risk include the European eel, the jarabugo in southwestern Spain and Portugal, and several types of fish found in only one place, such as the Lake Ammersee kilch, found only in the lake in Germany.

Internet Links
  a.. World Conservation Union   
 
The group, which is known by the abbreviation IUCN and produces an annual “Red List” of endangered species, said measures to reduce pollution, preserve wetlands, and limit the amount of water extracted from streams and rivers are needed to conserve the fish species.

The research is published in the Handbook of European Freshwater Fishes, which was funded by the North of England Zoological Society.
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