THE SELMA TIMES-JOURNAL

The drought plaguing most of the south is felt in Selma, but we won’t be running out of drinking water.

Restrictions on water usage have helped, but they may have to stay in place because experts are forecasting the drought to last through next year.

The restrictions prohibit outdoor water use on Wednesdays and the weekends, and allow for use by residents alternating odd and even days. The cause has been the 10-degree temperatures higher than normal, and the lack of about 17 feet of rainfall the area should have received.

Bridges said Selma won’t be like Orme, Tenn., which recently had all its drinking water depleted.

Now, three days a week the town’s volunteer fire chief hops in a 1961 fire truck at 5:30 a.m. and drives a few miles to an Alabama fire hydrant. He meets with another truck from nearby New Hope, where 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.

The city gets its water from two aquifers on &8220;the low side&8221; of town, and a third aquifer on &8220;the high side.&8221; The six wells are all pumping, but Bridges said Selmians need to continue to be patient.