Drought Crisis in Tennessee: A Perspective from Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee has been my place of residence since 1997. During this ten year period, I have never witnessed drought conditions quite like this in Middle Tennessee. According to the National Weather Service, the drought of 2007 is one of three of the worst droughts in recorded history, with the drought of 1986 still holds the number one slot. Even with recent rains, Davidson County remains roughly 13 inches below normal. Neighboring towns flood news reports across the country with stories of limited water supply and water restrictions. Every local news station ran coverage of the desperate situation of places like Orme, where residents were limited to three hours a day of water use.

Born and raised in south Texas, I am used to the natural rite of drought scares and mandatory water restrictions. Because of incessant roadside fires, smokers are fined for throwing their butts out car windows. Home owners are restricted from watering lawns before a certain hour of the day or on certain days of the week. Car washing businesses take a hit just like farmers. Outdoor animals die if owners cannot properly protect them from the extreme elements of the Texas summer sun.

Because of my upbringing, the scare initiated by the media and the words of desperation sited by interviewees and broadcasters alike made me guffaw just a bit. If the "crisis" were as bad as all the hype lead us to believe, why were water restrictions in my area voluntary and not mandatory?

Since I do not own the property on which I live, I could not decide how much or when to water the lawn. The owners relied solely on the trickling rain water to feed this patch of nature. My showers and dish and clothing washing habits never changed. For my part, I acted as a mere observer in our state's water "crisis."

I could look out my window or drink my tap water to know there was an obvious lack of rain, but because of my childhood experiences, I could not quite take the Tennessee drought seriously until our lawmakers took it seriously by mandating water usage-something they never did.