Even if they start conserving now, customers of the Fall Creek Falls Utility District in Van Buren County, Tenn., could be without water by the first week of January unless torrents of rain fall or another solution is found, experts say.

That’s 1,700 taps, including the one at Fall Creek Falls State Park, that will run dry.

U.S. DROUGHT MONITOR MAP

The water emergency has been building on the Cumberland Plateau during the ongoing drought. The U.S. Drought Monitor map issued Thursday shows the bright red splotch of extreme drought now spreads as far north as Cumberland and Roane counties in Tennessee.

Fall Creek Falls Utility District gets its water from the Department of Correction-owned and operated Taft Water Treatment Plant, which taps tiny Bee Creek near the prison.

On Wednesday, officials with local governments, the state Department of Correction, Department of Environment and Conservation and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency joined state lawmakers Sen. Paul Bailey, R-Sparta, Rep. Cameron Sexton, R-Crossville, and Rep. Ron Travis, R-Dayton, in a meeting with Gov. Bill Haslam and Deputy Gov. Jim Henry to discuss a solution, according to a statement from Bailey’s office.

Bailey, Sexton and Travis spoke in the statement about how well the discussion went and how Haslam was willing to commit state resources “on an emergency basis” to address the problem. TEMA’s Drought Task Force plans to convene as well, the statement said.

But the only solutions mentioned so far were long-lasting gully-washers, continued conservation by water customers and switching the state park’s water supply from the Taft plant to the park’s own reservoir, Fall Creek Falls Lake. Water from the lake would have to be treated by a mobile treatment station.  FULL STORY HERE