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Editorial - July 2002 |
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Appreciating water July 15, 2002 - Water availability is something we take for granted. It’s only during long, hot, rainless summers such as we have today that we find out just how important. Cherryville officials say they will have to buy water from Lincoln County to keep up with demand. Indian Creek, which feeds Cherryville’s municipal water filtration plant, cannot keep up with the demand. Before this summer, the plant, located in northwest Gaston County, pumped an average of 50 cubic feet of water per second from the creek. On July 1, that number had dropped to 2.2 cubic feet. City officials are worried, and have called several emergency meetings. While Lincoln County’s water supply seems to be holding up, wells throughout the county are drying up. So many people have run out of water, well drillers cannot keep up with the demand for service. “We can’t do a fourth of the people. You can’t do but so much,” Fred Blackburn, owner of Suburban Well Drilling of Lincolnton, said Thursday. Blackburn, who has been in the well business for 40 years, says this year is the worst he has ever seen. Gov. Mike Easley asked the federal government Friday to designate many North Carolina counties — including Lincoln and Gaston counties — disaster areas because of severe drought. Easley also asked North Carolina residents to begin or increase water conservation measures and said communities in the driest areas should impose mandatory water restrictions. “The current situation is the culmination of four years of drought and is beginning to impact water reservoirs throughout our state,” Easley said. “We cannot predict what kind of rainfall we will get this summer and fall, so we have to conserve now to ensure that we have adequate water supplies through October.” The governor said drought has caused more than $170 million in agricultural losses. We hope our state and local government officials are carefully scrutinizing the impact these conditions are having on our own infrastructure and water resources. Here in Lincoln County, we have learned one very important lesson: many of our citizens can’t rely on wells during such times. Lincoln County commissioners should re-examine our efforts at providing water in areas dependent upon wells that too often run dry.
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© 2001 Lincoln Times-News |
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