Mayor Tony Reames strictly rations the water in Orme, Tenn. At precisely 6 every night, he drives to the town's rusty 17,000-gallon water tower and turns a valve allowing the precious liquid to flow. The people below start filling gallon jugs, washing clothes, taking showers at home. At 9 p.m. Reames turns the supply off. "I wish I could leave it on for an extra hour," he says. "But we only have so much."

Orme (rhymes with storm), like much of the Southeast, has suffered through a terrible drought the past several months. In Georgia, where 60 percent of the streams are at record low points, the governor led a "pray for rain" service on the capital steps Nov. 13. In Flowery Branch, Ga., pleasure boats that once floated upon Lake Lanier now rest on the dry bed below. In North Carolina, nearly 80 percent of the state's population is under water-use restrictions. But the old mining town of Orme, population 142, where the waterfall that once supplied drinking water is nothing more than a trickle, and where the wells are now sulphurous, may be hardest hit of all.

In Orme, Gwyn Smith pours from a pitcher of water over the hands of her husband, David, after he changes their son's diaper. With four children and two grandchildren at home, the rationing has become a major inconvenience. "You still have to wash the dishes, but how can you do it without water?" says Gwyn, 42. The Smiths now visit a Laundromat 15 miles away and have new bath-time routines. "We let the kids take their showers first, then if there's any time left, I get mine," says Gwyn. Because her husband works a night shift, he's not home when the water is running. "I fill a bucket of water that we can warm up on the stove when he gets home. That's how he takes his shower."

The water they do have is imported from Bridgeport, Ala., just three miles away and located on the Tennessee River. Every other day volunteer firefighters drive Orme's 1961 diesel fire engine into Bridgeport, where they fill the 1,500-gallon truck with water from a fire hydrant. It takes about 10 trips to fill the water tower. Says firefighter Paul Spencer: "It's rewarding to know that we're helping take some hardship away from the families."

That hardship may be over soon. Orme received a federal grant to install a new water line from Alabama. When it's completed—plans call for the end of November—water will flow 24 hours a day. The lesson learned? Says Mayor Reames: "If it can happen in Orme, where we have a waterfall, it can happen anywhere."

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