Drought empties springs, leaving
38 families without water
By Thomas Wilson
STAR STAFF
twilson@starhq.com
The Dry Hollow community of upper Stoney Creek
is living up to its name.
Thirty-eight residents of the Dry Hollow area
have been without running water since Friday when two springs
that feed the community's water supply dried up, said Gary
Eggers, resident and officer in the community's water cooperative.
"We've had this water system since 1951," said
Eggers, a Dry Hollow Road resident. "I've lived here since
1972, and to my knowledge this is the first time it's ever
went dry."
The area's water supply is fed by two springs
with two reservoirs of 1,000 gallons and 1,500 gallons, said
Eggers.
The barren creek bed that meanders along Dry
Hollow Road near Muddy Branch Road was filled with rock and
branches, but no water as of Wednesday.
City of Elizabethton code enforcement officer
Captain Tom Bowers said Eggers had contacted him about the
situation on Monday. Although a city employee, Bowers said
he initiated a move to get drinking water to the area.
When the city's water supply experienced high
turbidity during localized flooding last year, the Tennessee
National Guard sent a tractor-trailer loaded with drinking
water, said Bowers.
"We still had some left stockpiled at the old
ice plant. We've only got as much left as we shipped up this
morning," he said. "If people need drinking water and I have
some at my disposal, they're sure going to get it."
The Stoney Creek Volunteer Fire Department had
provided a pumper truck to allow customers to use their toilets
on Tuesday night, said Eggers.
Sheriff John Henson said Wednesday he had been
contacted by Bowers about the situation. The sheriff's department
arranged to have 800 gallons of bottled drinking water delivered
to Dry Hollow residents early Wednesday afternoon, said Henson.
"The fire department has been pumping them water
to flush toilets, but they didn't have any drinking water,"
said Henson.
The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA)
had been in contact with county officials including Emergency
Management Director Jim Burrough about the problem, said Bob
Swabe, regional director for TEMA's East Tennessee region
in Alcoa.
Swabe also said the agency could not provide
drinking water to citizens by the commonly referred to "water
buffalo" tankers due to sanitation concerns.
"We can't supply drinking water through the water
buffalos or tankers because of the contamination problem,"
he said.
The spring system is not classified as a public
water system by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency due
to the small number of customers, said Eggers.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation
classifies community and non-community public water systems
(PWS) based on the number of connections and gallons of water
produced each day.
A community PWS serves at least 15 service connections
used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least
25 year-round residents, according to TDEC's definition.
"In September is when we usually run into trouble
if we're going to," said Gay Irwin, manager for the division
of water supply with TDEC's office in Johnson City. "Typically,
it is water systems that are dependent on ground water sources
that experience trouble."
The National Oceanic Atmosphere Administration's
(NOAA) Palmer Drought Index reported that Northeast Tennessee
is 2 to 2.9 inches below normal rainfall totals through Aug.
10. That number puts the area in a moderate drought condition.
Just across the border in North Carolina, the
counties of Ashe, Avery and Watauga are rated under extreme
drought conditions by the Palmer Index with rainfall totals
up to 4 inches below normal for the year.
"We won't have any water until it rains," said
Eggers. "If it doesn't rain soon, there's going to be a lot
of other people in this county in the same shape."
Bowers said citizens or businesses interested
in donating water for Dry Hollow residents water relief may
bring water supplies to the Elizabethton City Hall.
