Date: Mon, 21 Oct 2013 13:14:02 -0400
From: leela ellis
Subject: Chatham & Water
Back in the year 2001, we rented a home “off the paved road” of “old 86” in Chatham County, just northwest of Pittsboro. The well started pulling up sediment, a kind of gravelly stuff. People who were “in the know” up at UNC began quietly saying that UNC might have to shut down in the autumn if the drought continued. Folks began talking
about what shutting down UNC would do to the economy if UNC had to shut down dorms, send the students home, cancel a lot of the classes and send home workers — all due to a drought that was beginning to last too long to be comfortable or predictable. After all, students drink water when they aren’t drink beer …..
Driving across University Lake was like driving across a big ole plate of peanut butter fudge. All the offices at UNC and at the Student Union reminded everyone to conserve water.
But rain came. It is 2013, and Some people really don’t think too much about how much we need water, and how fragile our water suply can be. Rain isn’t just something that some people like to complain about, and reservoirs are more than something that floats our boats. We depend on the rain, we depend on our reservoirs being full of clean water that we can drink, that we can bathe in, and to wash our clothes and dishes.
What will we do if we over-populate Chatham County? What will our children do without enough water?