Out of the American Southeast comes a glimpse of the future: the town of Orme, Tennessee has run out of water. Orme, a former mining town with a population of 145 and an annual municipal budget of $13,000, has been waterless since August when Mayor Tony Reames reduced the town's water use to three hours per day.
Although this arid land has always been prone to droughts and the people of Orme have had their water restricted in the past, it has never before been turned off. The town used to get its water from a natural spring that provided 60,000 gallons per day. When the drought dried up all but 5,000 gallons of spring water, the loss of pressure left the town's waterlines dry. Now, the fire chief makes several roundtrips three days a week to collect water from a pump in Alabama. These water collection excursions alone have cost Orme $8,000 or 62% of their annual budget.
The collected water - 20,000 gallons every three days - sits in a town tank until the mayor turns the valve open at 6pm. From 6 until 9pm, the entire town's population must run their appliances, make dinner, bottle drinking water and bathe themselves. Each resident of Orme uses about 46 gallons of water a day compared to the average American, who uses 159 gallons daily.
You can find the entire article here
http://aboutmyplanet.com/green-news/waterless-future
A Waterless Future
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